Compensation dips for Guaranty Bank execs

Shaun Burke’s bonus pay was down 12% in 2019.

Guaranty Federal Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: GFED) reported slight decreases in total 2019 compensation for most of its top executives.

Total compensation last year was down for four of the executives and up for one, according to a proxy statement filed last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

President and CEO Shaun Burke, the highest paid executive at the parent company of Guaranty Bank, saw his total compensation decline by 1.6% to $432,543 – due largely to a 12% drop in bonuses. His salary was up nearly 2% to $320,000, while bonus pay came in at $95,266.

Charley Puls, the company's former chief lending officer, had the largest drop in total compensation, as he left Guaranty Bank early in 2019. His compensation, which included severance, dropped 56% to $103,000 after he was "terminated effective Jan. 25, 2019," according to the SEC filing.

Puls' LinkedIn profile indicates he's worked since March 2019 as director of commercial sales for St. Louis Bank. He was hired as Guaranty's chief lending officer in 2016 to succeed the retiring Michael Mattson, according to past reporting. Guaranty Bank on Monday announced Puls' successor is Craig Dunn, who took on the newly renamed position of executive vice president and chief commercial banking officer.

Below are Guaranty’s top executives, ranked by 2019 total compensation:
• Burke, $432,543, down 1.6%;
• Robin Robeson, chief operating officer, $313,274, down by less than 1%;
• Carter Peters, chief financial officer, $293,623, down by less than 1%;
• Sheri Biser, chief credit officer, $258,728, up 2.7%; and
• Puls, $103,000, down 56%.

In 2019, Guaranty Bank reported a 28% earnings increase to $9.4 million.

GFED shares were trading at $13.91 as of 1:40 p.m., compared with a 52-week range of $12.70 to $26.93. Like others in the stock market, the company's shares have dropped sharply amid the coronavirus pandemic.