Proxy: gains for Astoria execs

George Engelke Jr., left, and Monte Redman

It's the season for proxy statements in advance of annual meetings. These are usually drier than dust, but every now and then there are some interesting facts buried in them.

In this one for Astoria Financial Corp., the Lake Success-based holding company that owns Astoria Federal Savings, it shows that the total compensation for George Engelke Jr., the chairman and chief executive, has risen from $2.0 million in 2007 to $3.5 million in 2009. Similarly, the total compensation reported for president Monte Redman went from $1.2 million to $3.2 million in the same period.

The bulk of that increase is in the value of their pensions, so it isn't in the form of cash the executives will see right away.

The same document also indicates that severance pay for Engelke is more than $20 million and more than $11 million for Redman. That doesn't include additional payments of $10.3 million for Engelke and $5.3 million for Redman if there's a change in corporate control of the bank.