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Whole Foods CEO sets an example like no other

By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator

Dallas, TX – Close your eyes, unless you're driving, and imagine a company who for the last eleven quarters has shown consistent sales growth of over 20%, while the rest of the industry is one or two percent. Then imagine the company CEO's compensation is only 14% higher then that of the average worker while the other average CEO's received four hundred times that of their median employee. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.

Then place this company on the Fortune Magazine's list of The Best Places to Work since the list inception five years ago. Now, how about the fact that this company only sells products that are free of additives and artificial preservatives, and meats and poultry that are hormone-free while being the world's largest retailer of organic and natural foods. I'm speaking of Whole Foods, of course. And the CEO, John Mackey, only received $350,000 last year in compensation.

See, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard that last Friday on CNN's Moneyline. In fact, Lou Dobbs, mustering as much emotion as he could, couldn't believe it either - that little pay for running a successful company with annual sales of over $2 billion. Lou thought we might like to know this in light of the fact he was just talking about a few other CEO's who took home anywhere from $160 million to $200 million. John Mackey admitted his pay seemed fair to him. It's company policy that the CEO receives the 14%. John Mackey also is the co-founder of Whole Foods Market, Inc., and was Moneyline's CEO Of The Week.

When asked why this number, Mackey comically responded, "Basically, it's an arbitrary figure. God did not hand it down off a mountain to me, but I feel like that is a high enough figure that makes us competitive in the marketplace." Dobbs went on to say that he "couldn't believe it" when he heard that the company has total transparency - every employee knows what the other makes. He thought that was remarkable and knows of no other company in the country that does that.

Maybe other boards and CEO's can follow this standard. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.

Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.