MPAA CEO Chris Dodd’s compensation package was just over $3.3 million in 2012, an increase from a year earlier according to disclosures in tax filings made public on Tuesday.
Dodd, in his second year leading the industry trade organization, received just under $3 million in base compensation, $250,000 in bonus and incentives, $13,750 in retirement and deferred compensation, $19,585 in non taxable benefits and $41,930 in other reportable compensation, according to the IRS filing, required of all 501(c) organizations. The reason for the rise was that 2012 was the first full year that he was in the job, having started in March, 2011.
Dodd’s compensation in 2011 was $2.4 million, including $2.3 million in salary, $100,000 in bonus and incentives, $13,475 in retirement and other deferred compensation, $10,733 in non taxable benefits and $36,924 in other reportable compensation. Nevertheless, his pay package still did not rank in the top 10 in compensation of all trade association CEOs in 2011, according to figures gathered by CEO Update. Tom Kuhn of Edison Electric Institute topped that list that year, with $6.7 million. More recent rankings have yet to be published.
The MPAA also reported a $1.7 million deficit in 2012 as expenses rose to $69.8 million, from $61 million a year earlier. Among the areas where expenses rose were in pension contributions, salaries and advertising and promotion, as well as for grants to help finance industry-related orgs. Part of the rise was due to increased efforts to promote copyright and fight piracy. The MPAA contributed $475,000 to the Center for Copyright Information, which launched a program earlier this year in which Internet providers send copyright alerts to users who access infringing content. The MPAA also helped fund another org, the Copyright Alliance, with $600,000.
The MPAA’s revenue — chiefly from membership dues and its film rating service — rose to $68.1 million, from $60.8 million in 2011.
The org spent $4.8 million on lobbying during the year, compared to $4.7 million a year earlier. In early 2012, the MPAA was still lobbying heavily for passage of anti-piracy legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act, which was sidelined in Congress after an online protest.
The MPAA is still operating on a smaller budget than it did six years, when revenue totaled more than $92 million, before then-CEO Dan Glickman trimmed back its operations.
The MPAA also paid $1 million in a severance payment in 2012 to former COO Robert Pisano, who left the org in 2011 after serving as acting CEO until Dodd was selected for the position.
The returns also show that the MPAA donated to an array of groups across the spectrum, including Americans for Tax Reform, the org led by Grover Norquist, which received $100,000, and the leftward Center for American Progress, which received $60,000. The Tea Party org Let Freedom Ring received $10,000, and the Democratic Governors Assn. received $110,000, among other contributions the MPAA made during the year.
