BUSINESS

A Hoosier (and Ball State grad) was top-paid female exec in U.S.

Jeff Swiatek
jeff.swiatek@indystar.com

The highest-paid female executive in the U.S. last year was Angela Ahrendts, Apple Inc.'s senior vice president of retail and online stores.

She's a native Hoosier who grew up in New Palestine in Hancock County and graduated from Ball State University.

Ahrendts, 54, earned compensation of $82.6 million in 2014 for only seven months on the job, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The former chief executive officer of London-based fashion retailer Burberry Group Plc joined Apple last May and became the first woman on its management team.

Ahrendts' eye-popping pay package included a sign-on bonus and a make-whole grant for awards that she left behind by leaving Burberry.

A spokesman for California-based Apple, a computer and software maker, wouldn't comment on her compensation.

"I am hugely proud of my Midwestern roots," Ahrendts said in an email interview last year. "Growing up in Indiana, I learned that everything truly begins and ends with people, and the compassion, trust and respect for others that define this part of the world have given me a tremendous professional foundation."

Besides joining the world's most valuable company last year, Ahrendts also enhanced her resume by being honored as a Dame of the British Empire. The title is the female equivalent of knighthood, or being named a "sir," in the United Kingdom.

Ahrendts out-earned Yahoo! Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer, who was awarded $59.1 million in 2014.

Call Star reporter Jeff Swiatek at (317)444-6483. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffSwiatek.