I seem to recall being shocked when I heard that a Mr. Nobody-anyone-ever-heard-of bank president (I think that was his title?) at a No-big-deal bank in the late 1980s made over a million dollars in a year, and in that year, he was one of the top earning bank presidents.  I'll see if I can dig up that information.  It was so shocking, but it was the beginning of a trend as I remember it.

After that, the smash-and-grab was on, and the CEO class never looked back.