H.J. Heinz Chairman, President and CEO William R. Johnson was the region's highest-paid public company executive last year, collecting salary, stock-based awards, incentives and other compensation valued at $22.5 million.

That was $4 million more than the compensation of the No. 2 executive, Nova Chemicals CEO Jeffrey M. Lipton.

A record four women made the Post-Gazette's Fortunate 50 this year, led by former American Eagle Outfitters President Susan P. McGalla. She placed 20th with compensation of $4.8 million, down less than 1 percent from 2007. Ms. McGalla, whose contract was not renewed by the South Side teen apparel retailer, was the only female to make last year's Fortunate 50. This is her fifth consecutive year on the roster.

This year, she was joined by U.S. Steel Chief Financial Officer Gretchen R. Haggerty (No. 22 at $4.6 million), Mylan Chief Operating Officer Heather Bresch (No. 39 at $3.4 million) and former American Eagle Outfitters executive vice president Kathy J. Savitt (No. 47 at $2.9 million).

One executive made the list twice. Edward E. Cohen placed 13th as chairman and CEO of Atlas America (compensation of $7.3 million) and 26th as chairman and CEO of Atlas Energy Resources (compensation of $4.4 million).

Nearly half of the Fortunate 50 made the list despite being paid less than they were in the prior fiscal year. Combined, the 50 executives collected nearly $319 million last year, a few million dollars shy of what it will cost to build Consol Energy Center, the new home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The average executive on the Post-Gazette's annual Fortunate 50 collected $6.4 million last year, including an average salary of $709,000, stock and option awards valued at an average of $3.1 million and, on average, $1.5 million in non-stock incentives.

Based on U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. private sector worker earning the national average of $607 weekly would have to work about 200 years to earn as much as the average Fortunate 50 executive collected last year.

The average worker would have to clock in more than 400 weeks to collect the $250,000 the average Fortunate 50 member collected in "other" compensation, a category that includes insurance benefits, retirement plan contributions, club dues and other perquisites.

More than 60 percent of the Fortunate 50 worked for seven companies. Allegheny Technologies, Federated Investors, Heinz and U.S. Steel each placed five executives on the list while Atlas America, Mylan and PNC Financial Services Group each placed four.

Securities and Exchange Commission regulations introduced in the last few years require public companies to disclose more information about compensation in their proxy statements than they did previously.

While opinions vary on the quality and clarity of that information, compensation experts say the figures do not spell out what executives earn in a given year. That's because dollar figures for stock and options awards that are used in tables detailing compensation reflect only what a company has to expense based on the estimated value of the awards, not what an executive actually realizes from those awards.

"All they're seeing is what it costs the company. They're not seeing income to the executive," said Bruce Ellig, a New York-based adviser to boards on pay issues.

Take the case of Mr. Lipton from Nova Chemicals. His $18.5 million compensation reflects a grant of restricted stock that, for accounting purposes, was valued at $6 million when it was awarded early last year. However, the same stock would have been valued at only $1 million by the end of 2008 because of the 85 percent decline in Nova's stock price last year.

The stocks of most regional companies were battered similarly last year, so the pay of the Fortunate 50 is overstated because the market's nosedive occurred after many of the stock awards were valued. Conversely, their compensation was understated in years when the stock market soared after stock grants were issued.

Another way to measure compensation would be to ignore the accounting expense companies incurred for the option and stock grants, and look at what executives realized by exercising stock options or from restricted stock that vests in a given year.

Those numbers are available in proxy statements, but you have to get through a couple pages of tables and dense text to find them. However, they can be misleading. In the case of options, it is the executive's call as to when to exercise them and when that occurs the money collected may reflect options awarded over several years.

If the Fortunate 50 had been based on options exercises and vested shares of restricted stock, Allegheny Energy Chairman, President and CEO Paul J. Evanson would have topped the list with compensation of $68.1 million. That includes $42.6 million he realized by exercising options and $21.9 million worth of restricted stock that vested last year.

On that basis, Mr. Johnson from Heinz would have been third, with compensation of $18.8 million.

This year's Fortunate 50 includes only executives of public companies headquartered in the Tri-State region, different criteria than used in previous years. Executives of Alcoa, Bank of New York Mellon and other companies that have significant operations in the region but are based elsewhere are no longer eligible.

On last year's broader list, Bank of New York Mellon Executive Chairman Thomas A. Renyi placed first with compensation of $28.5 million. If he were still eligible, Mr. Renyi would have finished sixth on this year's roster with compensation of $13 million.