The highest-paid female executive on Long Island makes less than 70 male execs

Gender parity remains distant for Long Island public company executives, according to data assembled by S&P Global Market Intelligence for Newsday.

Women accounted for 22 of the top executives listed by the region's public companies, about a tenth of the total of 221 executives.

The woman with the top compensation package was Kristen Actis-Grande, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Melville-based MSC Industrial Direct Co. Her $1.6 million pay package made her No. 71 overall.

Kristen Actis-Grande

Executive vice president and chief financial officer of MSC Industrial Direct Co.

Compensation package: $1.6 million 

Ranking: Highest-paid female Long Island executive, but No. 71 overall

Credit: Larry Gatz

The top two male executives on Newsday's list had compensation packages of $21 million each. Five more had packages of $10 million or more. 

Actis-Grande is followed in the female top 10 by:

• No. 76 overall, Susan Wilkerson, senior vice president of global sales and services at Veeco Instruments Inc., $1.5M;
• No. 90, Patricia M. Schaubeck, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, Dime Community Bancshares Inc., $1.2M;
• No. 93, Maria A. Grasso, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, Flushing Financial, $1.2 million;
• No. 106, Susan K. Cullen, senior executive vice president, treasurer and CFO, Flushing Financial Corp., $1M;
• No. 112, Kristy Rogan Meringolo, executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer, Hain Celestial, $979,176;
• No. 115, Kari Heerdt, senior vice president, new business innovation and transformation, MSC Industrial Direct, $938,520;
• No. 121, Helena Santos, CEO, president and director, Scientific Industries Inc., $854,400;
• No. 123, Tuo Pan, CFO, Singularity Future Technology Inc., $845,454,
• and No. 145, Jane Moen, director, Vaso Corp., $526,931.

A study of early 2021 proxy filings by data provider Equilar Inc. found that median pay for women CEOs in the Equilar 500 — the top 500 U.S. public companies by revenue — was $11.8 million in 2021. That was about 18% below the median $14.5 million awarded to men. 

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.