Disgraced exec cashes in big

INDIANAPOLIS —  WellPoint’s former chief financial officer left in disgrace, but not empty-handed: His cash, options and retirement plans totaled $118.2 million, according to a federal regulatory filing Friday.

The company even paid David Colby $116,692 for his unused vacation time.

Colby, 54, resigned abruptly in May and has since been plagued by lawsuits tied to a string of romantic entanglements with women across the country.

The bulk of his money came from $101.9 million worth of stock options he exercised, which had vested, or matured, at the time of his departure. Because he resigned, he received no severance payments and forfeited all unvested stock and options.

He did receive $315,852 in salary for 2007 and keeps $14 million in retirement plans and deferred compensation he had already earned.

Shannon Troughton, a company spokeswoman, said Colby had accumulated the options during his years with the company and WellPoint was obligated by contract to provide the other payments.

Colby left two days before Chief Executive Angela Braly, 46, took over for Larry Glasscock, who retired but retained his role as company chairman.

Colby helped put together the $16.4-billion deal that created Indianapolis-based WellPoint in 2004. The company has declined to comment on his departure, other than to say it involved misconduct of a “nonbusiness nature.”

A pile of stock options worth more than $100 million isn’t unusual for chief executives of top public companies, said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate for Corporate Library, an independent governance research firm, but it is unusual for chief financial officers.

“At the very least, it would indicate that the board has been making grants of options in larger numbers,” he said. “You can’t build up that kind of option value without having a pretty substantial number of options under your belt.”

Executives can easily clear a nice profit on a small improvement in a company’s stock if they have a large option total, he said.

Braly, the company’s president and CEO, received total 2007 compensation valued at $14.8 million. That included stock and options valued at more than $13 million at the time they were awarded; however, the company later reduced such packages for all its executives because it missed profit goals.