IPO Doubles the Money for Insiders at CU Convert

ALBANY, Ga. – Directors and management of Heritage Bank of the South, once known as AGE FCU, were able to double their money by taking the former credit union public less than two years ago. The deal earned two former credit union volunteer directors, Chairman of the Board Antone Lehr and Vice Chairman Joseph Burger, $147,276 each last year, according to the bank’s annual proxy statement. That included: $57,000 in directors’ fees, $17,107 in restricted stock grants, $10,891 worth of stock options, $1,102 in ‘other’ compensation, and whopping $62,278 each in pension and deferred compensation for 66-year-old Lehr, a director since 1980, and the 70-year-old Burger, a director since 1987. The former credit union volunteers earned $57,000 for their board service in 2005, before the IPO. But the directors’ compensation pales compared to that paid Leonard Dorminey, president and CEO of the credit union convert, who earned $694, 802 last year—a $376,000 raise—from last year. Dorminey’s compensation last year included: a salary of $263,952; bonus of $65,988; stock grants of $82,769; options worth $52,592; pension and deferred compensation of $161,550 and all other compensation of $67,951. The three converted the credit union, chartered in 1955 as AGE FCU, to mutual savings bank in 2001, then brought it public in an initial public offering in June 2005.