Originally published Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 12:00 AM

CEO Pay 2008 | Women CEOs

Women hold three of the most powerful political offices in Washington state, but only eight of 135 Northwest companies had women as CEOs in 2008.

Women hold three of the most powerful political offices in Washington state, but only eight of 135 Northwest companies had women as CEOs in 2008. Two of them, Dawn Lepore of Bellevue-based drugstore.com and Diane Irvine of Seattle-based Blue Nile, were among the 20 top-paid CEOs last year. Here's a look at the eight female CEOs and the value of their 2008 pay packages.


CEO	Company name	Total pay
Dawn Lepore	drugstore.com	$3,591,786
Diane Irvine *	Blue Nile	3,528,600
Peggy Fowler **	Portland General Electric	2,437,915
Colleen Brown	Fisher Communications	1,102,630
Melanie Dressel	Columbia Banking System	885,362
Patricia Moss	Cascade Bancorp	672,223
Carol Nelson	Cascade Financial	302,380
B.G. Susan Robinson ***	Targeted Genetics	286,474
Irvine became CEO in February 2008. Fowler left the CEO post in March 2009. **Robinson became CEO in November 2008. Equilar valued her 2008 stock awards using the number of restricted stock units and a closing price of 76 cents on May 15, 2008, the grant date. Source: Equilar