Rich Meeusen, CEO of Badger Meter. Credit: Badger Meter Inc.
Rich Meeusen, the president, chief executive officer and chairman of Badger Meter Inc., would receive about $8.4 million if the company were to change hands and he departed, according to filings with federal securities regulators.
Badger Meter is "exploring on a preliminary basis various options to enhance shareholder value," the company said Wednesday in a news release.
Meeusen's so-called change-in-control package is laid out in his employment and severance agreement. It says that Meeusen, 61, would receive three years' worth of salary and annual incentive compensation, along with the estimated retirement and other benefits he would have earned if he had been employed for those three years. Among the benefits included in the estimate are outplacement and financial planning services.
If he had departed on Dec. 31, 2015, following a sale, the benefit would have been worth $8.4 million, the company said in a March 8 SEC filing.
Badger Meter did not respond Thursday afternoon to a reporter's questions about Meeusen's possible compensation.
The compensation committee of Badger Meter's board — all of whom have strong Milwaukee ties — approved the agreement. That committee is headed by Steven J. Smith, who was the top executive at Journal Media Group, which was the parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel before JMG was sold to Gannett Co. Inc.
Other members of the compensation committee are Gale E. Klappa, recently retired CEO of WEC Energy Group Inc.; Gail A. Lione, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University who was general counsel at Harley-Davidson Inc.; and Todd Teske, CEO at Briggs & Stratton Corp.
Meeusen has been one of the region's most high-profile executives, a lifelong Milwaukeean known for his clever quips and big ideas. He founded the Water Council in 2008 and became one of the most ardent boosters of its potential to improve the region's economy.
He also was one of the strongest supporters of the controversial right-to-work bill, promising to add jobs if it was passed and inviting Gov. Scott Walker to sign it into law on Badger Meter's factory floor in March 2015.
Reacting to news of the possibility of a sale of Badger Meter, liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now said in a news release that research in other states has shown that when right-to-work is enacted, the result is lower wages, less health care, fewer resources for schools and less workplace safety.