A Look at the Top Pay for Top Executives : Business: The San Gabriel Valley’s most highly compensated managers come primarily from the engineering and industry fields, a Times survey shows.

An office supply company, a giant electric utility, a supermarket chain and an old-line construction engineering firm paid their executives more last year than any other publicly owned businesses with headquarters in the San Gabriel Valley, a Times survey shows.

A compilation of executive pay for the San Gabriel Valley--based on reports from publicly owned companies, which must reveal to shareholders the pay of top officers--also shows that the San Gabriel Valley has not shifted to service industries like much of the county. The 25 highest-paid corporate officials in the area come, instead, mostly from the fields of engineering and industry.

Experts say those companies are attracted by commercial real estate that is still affordable, a stable labor pool and expensive suburbs such as Arcadia and San Marino, where executives like to live.

The salaries of privately owned businesses, professionals, educators, government employees and large companies with local branches that have their corporate headquarters elsewhere are not reported in the rankings. Additionally, the rankings are based on where executives work, not where they live.

According to the figures, Charles D. Miller, chief executive of Avery Dennison Corp., is the San Gabriel Valley’s highest-paid executive. He made more than $1.6 million in 1990. That included $950,000 in cash payments and $711,706 in stock options.

The Pasadena-based manufacturer of office supplies is the product of a merger last fall between a local firm, Avery International, and Dennison Manufacturing of Massachusetts. Executives said after last year’s merger that they hoped Avery Dennison, which has 18,200 employees, eventually could become the world’s largest supplier of office supplies.

Other Avery executives are compensated handsomely to pursue that goal, the survey shows. Miller is just one of five company administrators whose salaries rank among the top 25 in the San Gabriel Valley. For instance, corporation President Philip M. Neal ranked 12th in the region, with an annual compensation totaling $549,774, while Donald D. Belcher, senior group vice president, made $460,682 to rank 14th.

Second on the region’s list of top salaries is retired Southern California Edison chief executive Howard P. Allen. He earned more than $1 million in salary and other compensation in 1990, retiring in October from his executive position to become a consultant to Edison.

The Rosemead-based electric company, which serves 4 million customers in Southern and Central California, has four other executives on the list of the top 25 salaries. Current chief executive officer John E. Bryson ranked ninth, with pay of $608,528, and executive vice president David J. Fogarty, who retired at the end of 1990, made $582,652 to rank 10th.

Arcadia-based Vons supermarkets has two at the top of the region’s pay scale. Chief executive Roger E. Strangeland made $984,440 in 1990 to place third on the list, just one position and a little more than $1,000 ahead of Vons chief operating officer Dennis K. Eck.

The San Gabriel Valley’s other powerhouse for top executive salaries is Jacobs Engineering, which has made its home in Pasadena for more than 40 years. Founder Joseph J. Jacobs, with total compensation of $648,550 a year, ranked seventh on the list. Four other officials at the firm also made the top 25.

The company’s roots were in the design and construction of equipment for mining and minerals processing. But the firm, which employs 4,500 people, has shifted recently toward the emerging field of environmental cleanup, said company spokesman Ron Lovecchio.

Jacobs’ Pasadena home puts it in the middle of a strong engineering and technical regional economy.

“With Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Lab here, there has become sort of a critical mass of engineering firms in this area,” said Blaine Fetter, president of the San Gabriel Valley Cities and Commerce Consortium. “There is a great labor pool here for that sort of work. . . . It’s not unlike the Silicon Valley and its relation to Stanford.”

The Commerce Consortium promotes business in the San Gabriel Valley.

San Gabriel Valley’s Highest-Paid Executives

The following is a list of the highest-paid executives of publicly owned companies headquartered in the San Gabriel Valley. It is taken from The Times’ annual executive compensation survey of California’s largest companies. The information was derived from proxy statements and annual reports of more than 500 publicly held California companies.

Company Title* 1. Charles D. Miller Avery Dennison COB, CEO 2. Howard P. Allen SCECORP* COB, P, CEO 3. Roger E. Strangeland Vons Companies COB, CEO 4. Dennis K. Eck Vons Companies VCOB, COO 5. Richard J. Slater Jacobs Engineering SVP Group 6. James E. Berkley Jacobs Engineering EVP Group 7. Joseph J. Jacobs Jacobs Engineering COB, CEO Group 8. Gordon S. Marshall Marshall Industries COB, CEO, P 9. John E. Bryson SCECORP COB, CEO, SO 10. David J. Fogarty SCECORP EVP, SO 11. Michael R. Peevey SCECORP P, SO 12. Philip M. Neal Avery Dennison P, COO 13. Noel G. Watson Jacobs Engineering P, COO Group 14. Donald D. Belcher Avery Dennison SGVP 15. R. Gregory Jenkins Avery Dennison SVP, CFO 16. Robert D. Fletcher Avery Dennison GVP 17. Richard D. Wood Optical Radiation COB, P 18. Lawrence T. Papay SCECORP SO 19. Lawrence R. Tollenaere Ameron COB, CEO 20. John P. Cunningham International Aluminum P 21. Gerson I. Fox Barry’s Jewelers SEC, TRE 22. David Blum Barry’s Jewelers COB 23. Terry L. Burman Barry’s Jewelers P 24. Gerald L. Stevenson Jacobs Engineering GVP Group 25. Richard D. Bentley Marshall Industries EVP, COO

1990 Total Comp. 1. Charles D. Miller $1,661,706 2. Howard P. Allen 1,043,635 3. Roger E. Strangeland 984,440 4. Dennis K. Eck 983,047 5. Richard J. Slater 716,731 6. James E. Berkley 669,883 7. Joseph J. Jacobs 648,550 8. Gordon S. Marshall 641,285 9. John E. Bryson 608,528 10. David J. Fogarty 582,652 11. Michael R. Peevey 571,486 12. Philip M. Neal 549,774 13. Noel G. Watson 496,175 14. Donald D. Belcher 460,682 15. R. Gregory Jenkins 405,679 16. Robert D. Fletcher 357,120 17. Richard D. Wood 350,000 18. Lawrence T. Papay 349,659 19. Lawrence R. Tollenaere 315,385 20. John P. Cunningham 310,132 21. Gerson I. Fox 300,000 22. David Blum 300,000 23. Terry L. Burman 297,500 24. Gerald L. Stevenson 281,370 25. Richard D. Bentley 281,272

* Guide to abbreviations CEO: Chief executive officer CFO: Chief financial officer COB: Chairman of the board COO: Chief operating officer EVP: Executive vice president GVP: Group vice president P: President SCECORP: Southern California Edison Corp. SEC: Secretary SGVP: Senior group vice president SO: Subsidiary officer SVP: Senior vice president TRE: Treasurer VCOB: Vice chairman of the board

Salary Stock Stock Other and Bonus Options Awards Comp. 1. Charles D. Miller $950,000 $711,706 None None 2. Howard P. Allen 1,025,367 None None $18,268 3. Roger E. Strangeland 984,440 None None None 4. Dennis K. Eck 983,047 None None None 5. Richard J. Slater 272,292 444,439 None None 6. James E. Berkley 399,133 270,750 None None 7. Joseph J. Jacobs 648,550 None None None 8. Gordon S. Marshall 457,285 184,000 None None 9. John E. Bryson 594,947 None None 13,581 10. David J. Fogarty 572,571 None None 10,081 11. Michael R. Peevey 565,283 None None 6,203 12. Philip M. Neal 470,833 78,941 None None 13. Noel G. Watson 496,175 None None None 14. Donald D. Belcher 359,500 101,182 None None 15. R. Gregory Jenkins 307,500 98,179 None None 16. Robert D. Fletcher 255,000 102,120 None None 17. Richard D. Wood 350,000 None None None 18. Lawrence T. Papay 347,347 None None 2,312 19. Lawrence R. Tollenaere 315,385 None None None 20. John P. Cunningham 192,826 110,080 None 7,226 21. Gerson I. Fox 300,000 None None None 22. David Blum 300,000 None None None 23. Terry L. Burman 297,500 None None None 24. Gerald L. Stevenson 281,370 None None None 25. Richard D. Bentley 233,481 47,791 None None