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Companies Tootsie Roll Industries Inc

Tootsie Roll Industries (TR): executive pay, fiscal 2025

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CEO total pay$7,150,512CEO Ellen Gordon · source
Say-on-pay support96.84%Latest vote · source
CEO vs. named peers47th pct.Of 18 peer CEOs
CEO pay ratio96:1To the median employee · source

CEO pay, last three years

  • $7,289,683FY2023
  • $7,204,551FY2024
  • $7,150,512FY2025

CEO total pay was $7,150,512 in fiscal 2025, down from $7,204,551 in fiscal 2024.

FY2025: salary $999,000 · bonus $4,245,000

Executives and directors

Frequently asked questions

Who was the highest-paid executive at Tootsie Roll Industries Inc in fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, Ellen Gordon (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer) was the highest-paid executive at Tootsie Roll Industries Inc in fiscal 2025, with total compensation of $7,150,512.
How does Tootsie Roll Industries Inc's chief executive pay compare to its disclosed peer group?
As disclosed, Ellen Gordon's total compensation ranked at the 47th percentile of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc's disclosed peer group.
What is Tootsie Roll Industries Inc's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio?
As disclosed, Tootsie Roll Industries Inc's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 96:1.
How did shareholders vote on Tootsie Roll Industries Inc's executive compensation?
As disclosed, 96.84% of shareholders supported Tootsie Roll Industries Inc's executive compensation in the latest say-on-pay vote.
How much does Tootsie Roll Industries Inc spend in total on board compensation for fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, Tootsie Roll Industries Inc reported total board compensation of $1,610,443 for fiscal 2025.

Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.

Full detail

Every table from the filing. Open any section.

Summary compensation table
Named executive officerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension / NQDCAll otherTotal
Ellen Gordon$999,000$4,245,000————$1,906,512$7,150,512
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
G. Howard Ember Jr.999,000590,000————836,7952,425,795
Vice President/Finance
Barry Bowen787,500307,900————374,3231,469,723
Treasurer
Stephen Green728,500282,000————335,0771,345,577
Vice President/Manufacturing
Henry Mills603,000259,700————293,5921,156,292
Vice President/Chief Operating Officer

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.

Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive

Named executive officerFY2025 totalFY2024 totalFY2023 totalΔ FY2024→2025
Ellen Gordon$7,150,512$7,204,551$7,289,683↓ −54,039
G. Howard Ember Jr.2,425,7952,319,7762,208,154↑ +106,019
Barry Bowen1,469,7231,403,4531,333,932↑ +66,270
Stephen Green1,345,5771,285,3991,221,811↑ +60,178
Henry Mills1,156,2921,008,221831,013↑ +148,071

Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.

Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis

The Company's compensation program is balanced between short-term and long-term incentives, with a heavier weighting on base salary than typical to mitigate excessive risk-taking. The primary focus is providing total compensation competitive with direct competitors, while considering individual and Company performance to determine appropriate levels.

CEO STI target (% of salary)—
CEO LTI target (% of salary)—
Independent consultantCompensation Strategies, Inc.
Clawback policytrue
Anti-hedgingtrue
Anti-pledgingfalse
Equity grants and outstanding awards

No plan-based awards are on file for this fiscal year.

No outstanding equity awards are on file for this fiscal year.

Director compensation
DirectorCash feesStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveAll otherTotal
Karen G. MillsEmployee director · Newly elected$0$0——$1,010,443$1,010,443
Paula M. WardynskiIndependent160,000———2,000162,000
Lana Jane Lewis-BrentIndependent150,000———0150,000
Michael A. ChodosNewly elected140,740———0140,740
Virginia L. GordonNot independent138,000———0138,000
Barre A. Seibert9,260———09,260
Ellen R. GordonEmployee director · Board Chair—————0

Board fee structure and ownership guideline

Annual cash retainer$130,000
Annual equity retainer—
Per board meeting fee$2,000
Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov)20,000
Stock ownership guideline—

Total cost of the board

ComponentFY2025
Cash retainers and fees$598,000
Equity awards (grant-date value)$0
All other compensation$1,012,443
Total cost of the board$1,610,443

Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.

Peer group, and who names Tootsie Roll Industries as a peer

Companies that benchmark against TR

8 companies name TR as a compensation peer

Each company listed discloses TR in its own benchmarking peer group, as disclosed in each company's most recent proxy statement within the last two proxy seasons. Two companies are therefore absent by design: one that named TR in an earlier year and no longer does, and one whose own most recent disclosure is older than the last two seasons.

Disclosed peer group — fiscal year 2025

The compensation peer group as the company disclosed it in its own proxy — the reference set behind the percentile above.

Peer reciprocity

The companies Tootsie Roll Industries Inc names as compensation peers that name it back in their own disclosed peer groups.

Chief executive pay against the peer group

Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company’s own proxy statement.

RankCompanyFYChief executiveSalaryStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveTotal
1Kellanova2023Steve Cahillane$1,338,462$10,995,985$1,524,318$2,829,600$17,038,641
2The Hershey Company2025Kirk Tanner456,73114,674,11301,358,05216,806,399
3Post Holdings, Inc.2025Robert Vitale1,281,25014,811,2950016,621,445
4General Mills, Inc.2026Jeffrey Harmening1,350,0007,326,4052,279,9731,404,54014,018,052
5Campbell Soup Company2026Mick Beekhuizen1,233,0008,043,56301,226,61010,965,019
6The J.M. Smucker Company2026Mark Smucker1,221,1546,274,43802,143,12610,935,216
7McCormick & Co., Inc.2025Brendan Foley1,139,0848,600,1050720,13010,831,581
8TreeHouse Foods, Inc.2024Steven Oakland1,102,0007,069,378008,305,103
9Flowers Foods, Inc.2025A. Ryals McMullian1,041,7305,735,8420733,5247,776,698
10Tootsie Roll Industries Inc2025Ellen Gordon999,000———7,150,512
11Marzetti Company2026David Ciesinski1,000,0003,500,07401,146,7505,743,331
12John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc.2026Jeffrey Sanfilippo985,4701,687,43101,841,8635,326,942
13B&G Foods, Inc.2025Kenneth Keller1,224,2582,625,8640710,4374,589,619
14Hain Celestial Group, Inc.2025Wendy Davidson789,8083,530,682004,546,417
15The Simply Good Foods Company2025Geoff Tanner816,6672,747,758—748,0004,330,633
16J & J Snack Foods Corp.2025Daniel Fachner1,021,9232,059,9740834,3003,978,648
17Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc.2025Ken Romanzi107,8853,600,5620147,8363,863,880
18Farmer Brothers Co.2024John Moore III346,5381,499,296001,945,920

Each peer’s compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer’s figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.

Incentive design against the same peers

CompanyAnnual incentive payoutLong-term vehicle mixPSU measures include TSRCompensation consultant
Tootsie Roll Industries Incnot disclosednot disclosednot disclosedCompensation Strategies, Inc.
B&G Foods, Inc.not disclosednot disclosednot disclosedMeridian Compensation Partners
Campbell Soup Companynot disclosedPSU 60 · RSU 40Yes — Relative TSRFW Cook
Farmer Brothers Co.not disclosedRSU 50 · PBRSU 50not disclosedMeridian Compensation Partners, LLC
Flowers Foods, Inc.56.3%PSU 70 · RSU 30Yes — TSR vs. Peer GroupMeridian Compensation Partners, LLC
General Mills, Inc.58%PSU 50 · RSU 25 · Option 25Yes — Relative TSR ModifierFW Cook
Hain Celestial Group, Inc.not disclosedRSU 50 · PSU 50Yes — Relative TSR versus the S&P Food & Beverage Select Industry IndexClearBridge Compensation Group, LLC
J & J Snack Foods Corp.not disclosednot disclosednot disclosednot disclosed
John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc.158.1%RSU 80 · PSU 20NoPearl Meyer & Partners, LLC
Kellanovanot disclosedPSU 75 · RSU 25NoSemler Brossy Consulting Group
Marzetti Company91.7%PSU 55 · RSU 45Yes — Relative total shareholder return (“rTSR”) versus the S&P 1500 Packaged Foods & Meats IndexPay Governance LLC
McCormick & Co., Inc.40.4%PSU 50 · RSU 50Yes — McCormick's TSR relative to the TSR generated by our Peer Group companiesWTW (Willis Towers Watson)
Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc.not disclosednot disclosednot disclosedFredric W. Cook & Co., Inc. (F.W. Cook)
Post Holdings, Inc.124.4%PSU 50 · RSU 50Yes — Negative three-year TSRAon
The Hershey Companynot disclosedPSU 65 · RSU 35NoF.W. Cook
The J.M. Smucker Company117%PSU 60 · RSU 40NoSemler Brossy
The Simply Good Foods Companynot disclosednot disclosednot disclosedMercer
TreeHouse Foods, Inc.not disclosedRSU 50 · PSU 50not disclosedPay Governance LLC

Read from each company’s Compensation Discussion and Analysis: annual incentive payout as a percentage of target, the disclosed long-term vehicle mix, whether performance-share measures include a total shareholder return component, and the retained compensation consultant. “Not disclosed” appears only where the company’s filing does not state the item.

Say-on-pay history and pay ratio
Meeting yearMeeting dateForAgainstAbstainSupportOutcome
20262026-05-06334,324,21710,913,870154,30796.84%Passed
20232023-05-01305,626,46811,309,54381,70296.43%Passed
20202020-08-31281,138,0409,164,031104,47296.84%Passed
20172017-05-01259,766,5827,428,480—97.22%Passed

Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year’s compensation.

Say-on-pay — history, company’s computation

Meeting yearMeeting dateApproval — company’s computation
20262026-05-0696.84%a
20232023-05-0196.43%b
20202020-08-3196.84%c

a. Voting standard not stated in the filing.

b. Voting standard not stated in the filing.

c. Voting standard not stated in the filing.

Approval percentages are the company’s own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.

CEO pay ratio

Ratio (CEO : median employee)96 : 1
CEO total compensation$7,158,238
Median employee compensation$74,309
Insider trades since the proxy

No insider equity transactions reported since the proxy statement.

Sources (39 citations)

Each figure is listed with the filing it comes from, where it appears in that filing, and the value as printed. Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.

  • Section 01, Ellen Gordon. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 7,150,512. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, G. Howard Ember Jr.. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 2,425,795. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Barry Bowen. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 1,469,723. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Stephen Green. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 1,345,577. View filing ↗
  • Section 01, Henry Mills. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Executive Compensation”. As printed: 1,156,292. View filing ↗
  • Section 07, pay ratio. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: 96 : 1. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Karen G. Mills. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 1,010,443. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Paula M. Wardynski. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 162,000. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Lana Jane Lewis-Brent. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 150,000. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Michael A. Chodos. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 140,740. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Virginia L. Gordon. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 138,000. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Barre A. Seibert. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 9,260. View filing ↗
  • Section 08, Ellen R. Gordon. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. View filing ↗
  • Section 06, 2026 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2026-05-11. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 96.84% (votes for as printed: 334,324,217). View filing ↗
  • Section 06, 2023 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2023-05-04. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 96.43% (votes for as printed: 305,626,468). View filing ↗
  • Section 06, 2020 vote. Form 8-K, filed 2020-09-08. Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 96.84% (votes for as printed: 281,138,040). View filing ↗
  • Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed). Computed. Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.
  • Section 09b board cost (computed). Computed. Cash 598,000 + equity 0 + all other 1,012,443 = 1,610,443, summed across the director compensation table rows.
  • Kellanova, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2024-03-04. CEO total compensation as printed in Kellanova's own proxy. As printed: 17,038,641. View filing ↗
  • The Hershey Company, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-25. CEO total compensation as printed in The Hershey Company's own proxy. As printed: 16,806,399. View filing ↗
  • Post Holdings, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2025-12-15. CEO total compensation as printed in Post Holdings, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 16,621,445. View filing ↗
  • General Mills, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-08-13. CEO total compensation as printed in General Mills, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 14,018,052. View filing ↗
  • Campbell Soup Company, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-07. CEO total compensation as printed in Campbell Soup Company's own proxy. As printed: 10,965,019. View filing ↗
  • The J.M. Smucker Company, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-06-26. CEO total compensation as printed in The J.M. Smucker Company's own proxy. As printed: 10,935,216. View filing ↗
  • McCormick & Co., Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-02-18. CEO total compensation as printed in McCormick & Co., Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 10,831,581. View filing ↗
  • TreeHouse Foods, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2025-03-13. CEO total compensation as printed in TreeHouse Foods, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 8,305,103. View filing ↗
  • Flowers Foods, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-14. CEO total compensation as printed in Flowers Foods, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 7,776,698. View filing ↗
  • Tootsie Roll Industries Inc (subject), Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. CEO total compensation as printed in Tootsie Roll Industries Inc's own proxy. As printed: 7,150,512. View filing ↗
  • Marzetti Company, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-10-13. CEO total compensation as printed in Marzetti Company's own proxy. As printed: 5,743,331. View filing ↗
  • John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-09-14. CEO total compensation as printed in John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 5,326,942. View filing ↗
  • B&G Foods, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-04-03. CEO total compensation as printed in B&G Foods, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 4,589,619. View filing ↗
  • Hain Celestial Group, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2025-09-18. CEO total compensation as printed in Hain Celestial Group, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 4,546,417. View filing ↗
  • The Simply Good Foods Company, Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2025-12-17. CEO total compensation as printed in The Simply Good Foods Company's own proxy. As printed: 4,330,633. View filing ↗
  • J & J Snack Foods Corp., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-01-02. CEO total compensation as printed in J & J Snack Foods Corp.'s own proxy. As printed: 3,978,648. View filing ↗
  • Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2026-03-27. CEO total compensation as printed in Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc.'s own proxy. As printed: 3,863,880. View filing ↗
  • Farmer Brothers Co., Section 10b CEO total. DEF 14A, filed 2024-12-23. CEO total compensation as printed in Farmer Brothers Co.'s own proxy. As printed: 1,945,920. View filing ↗
  • Section 10a, Marzetti Company reciprocity. DEF 14A. Marzetti Company names Tootsie Roll Industries Inc in its own disclosed peer group (read from its most recent proxy). View filing ↗
  • Section 10a, The Simply Good Foods Company reciprocity. DEF 14A. The Simply Good Foods Company names Tootsie Roll Industries Inc in its own disclosed peer group (read from its most recent proxy). View filing ↗
  • Section 10a, John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. reciprocity. DEF 14A. John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. names Tootsie Roll Industries Inc in its own disclosed peer group (read from its most recent proxy). View filing ↗
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