These Omaha-area companies donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Nebraska politics in 2024 — the same cycle the legislature gutted paid sick leave for 140,000 workers. Here's what their CEOs make compared to their median employee.
The connection
Public companies are legally required to disclose CEO-to-worker pay ratios every year. Most people don't know this data exists. It's filed with the SEC and it's public record.
The same companies that fund Nebraska legislative campaigns — helping elect senators who vote against minimum wage increases, paid sick leave, and worker protections — are required by the Dodd-Frank Act to publish exactly how much more their CEO makes than their median employee. Below is that data, sourced directly from their SEC proxy filings.
Omaha, NE · CEO: V. James Vena
For every $1 the median Union Pacific employee earns, the CEO earns $131.
Omaha, NE · CEO: Derek J. Leathers
For every $1 the median Werner Enterprises employee earns, the CEO earns $100.
Omaha, NE · CEO: Todd Becker
For every $1 the median Green Plains employee earns, the CEO earns $57.
Omaha, NE · CEO: Rick Lanoha
As a privately held company, Kiewit Corp is not required to disclose executive compensation or CEO pay ratios. Transparency into pay practices at this company is limited to what they choose to share voluntarily.
Omaha, NE · CEO: John Henderson
As a privately held company, HDR Inc is not required to disclose executive compensation or CEO pay ratios. Transparency into pay practices at this company is limited to what they choose to share voluntarily.
Every public company in the US is required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to median employee pay in their annual proxy statement (Form DEF 14A), filed with the SEC.
To find it for any public company:
The AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch database ↗ aggregates this data and makes it searchable by company ticker.
Sources
Campaign finance data sourced from OpenSecrets — Nebraska 2024 cycle. CEO pay data sourced from SEC DEF 14A proxy filings. See full donor list ↗