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Pepsi CEO donates salary
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March 24, 1998: 10:33 a.m. ET
Citing personal reasons, Roger Enrico gives $900,000 to scholarship fund
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - PepsiCo Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Roger Enrico plans to use his entire $900,000 annual salary to help fund scholarships for children of the company's least-paid "front-line" workers.
Enrico, in a letter to employees, said he plans to take an annual salary of $1 and re-direct his pay to a new PepsiCo scholarship fund for the children of employees who earn less than $60,000 per year.
"I decided to do something personal, as a way to say thanks to our often unsung heroes," Enrico said in the letter.
Last year, Enrico, the son of a blue-collar worker, earned $900,000 in base salary and a bonus of $1.3 million. The donation of his base pay is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
And at Enrico's request, PepsiCo's board of directors in January approved making an annual contribution of $1 million.
PepsiCo spokesman Dick Detwiler said last year the PepsiCo Foundation, a long-running program at the Purchase, N.Y.-based soft drink and snack food behemoth, awarded about $1.5 million in scholarships.
The new funds will make money available to students attending junior colleges and technical schools, not just those attending four-year colleges and universities, as in the past.
Detwiler said the donation was "personal" and was not aimed as a message to competitors or other well-heeled corporate executives.
"The only thing that this action reflects is that he feels the front-line employees are critical to our success, and he wants to show support for them," he said.
Front-line employees include sales assistants, mail clerks, mechanics, loaders and others, the letter from Enrico said.
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PepsiCo Inc.
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