George Gleason, 63, chairman and chief executive officer of Little Rock's Bank of the Ozarks Inc., received total compensation of $6.2 million during 2016.
While Gleason was the highest paid executive at the $19 billion-asset bank holding company, his one-year increase of 5.2 percent wasn't the biggest.
Dan Thomas, 53, vice chairman and chief lending officer and president of the bank's real estate specialties group, received total compensation of $4.7 million. That reflected a one-year gain of 13 percent.
Three of the top five executives at Little Rock's Bank of the Ozarks enjoyed healthy double-digit raises in 2016.
John Carter, director of community banking, received a 30.3 percent salary increase to $309,615.
Greg McKinney, chief financial officer and chief accounting officer; and Tyler Vance, chief operating officer and chief banking officer; each received a 29.6 percent raise that boosted their annual pay to $594,615.
Gleason and Thomas each received a base salary of $1 million in 2015 and 2016.
The compensation information was included in the company's proxy statement that was released this morning and also noted the proposed addition of a new board member: Kathleen Franklin, 60, global ethics and compliance strategy leader for Sony Group since 2010. Franklin represents an expansion of the board back to 16 members after it stood at 15 last year.
The three largest stakeholders in Bank of the Ozarks are Willington Management Group LLP of Boston, 8.39 percent worth $558.9 million; BlackRock Inc. of New York, 7.68 percent worth $511.9 million; and The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pennsylvania, 7.66 percent worth $510.5 million.
Among insiders, George and Linda Gleason control the largest collective block of stock, 4.98 percent worth $332.5 million.
This year's annual shareholder meeting will feature a new venue. Instead of the corporate headquarters in west Little Rock, the gathering will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, May 8, at the Capital Hotel at 111 W. Markham St. in downtown Little Rock.