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Lifeway Foods Executive Compensation (FY25)

LWAY · Executive and director compensation, fiscal 2024 to 2025
Chief executive, fiscal 2025
◇
Julie Smolyansky
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Data as of November 4, 2026Latest filing (DEF 14A): April 30, 2026
1 filing cited on this page
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63 figures on this page, cited to the filing that reported them. See the citations

More on Lifeway Foods

Five data products on this company. Each one is requested through the developer setup page.
What changed from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025
The figures that moved, and by how much. Analysis of these figures is part of the Velarion platform.
Chief executive total compensation — Julie Smolyansky: $5,372,124 → $3,389,132 (36.9% lower)

Frequently asked questions

Answers drawn from the data on this page.
Who is Lifeway Foods' chief executive and what were they paid?
Total compensation for Julie Smolyansky, Chief Executive Officer, President and Secretary, came to $3,389,132 in fiscal 2025. Compared with the $5,372,124 reported for fiscal 2024, Smolyansky's total was 36.9% lower.
Which companies are in Lifeway Foods' peer group?
The disclosed peer group names Alico, Inc., Beyond Meat, Inc., Bridgford Foods Corp., Celsius Holdings, Inc. and Coffee Holding Co., Inc., among others.

Executive compensation

Every element reported for each named executive officer, by fiscal year.
Fiscal 2024
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Julie Smolyansky
Chief Executive Officer, President and Secretary
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Eric Hanson
Chief Financial and Accounting Officer, Treasurer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Fiscal 2025
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Julie Smolyansky
Chief Executive Officer, President and Secretary
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Eric Hanson
Chief Financial and Accounting Officer, Treasurer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. A negative change in pension value is shown but, as the company reports it, not included in the total.

Outstanding awards

Awards still held at fiscal year end.
As disclosed at fiscal 2025 year end
OfficerAwardUnvested unitsMarket value of unvested unitsExercise priceExpires
Julie SmolyanskyPSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
Eric HansonPSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Director compensation

What each non-employee director was paid.
Fiscal 2025
DirectorFees earned in cashStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Jason Scher
◇◇————◇
Dorri McWhorter
Board chair
◇◇————◇
Juan Carlos (JC) Dalto
◇◇————◇
Perfecto Sanchez
◇—————◇
Andee Harris
◇◇————◇
Rachel Drori
◇◇————◇
Kirk Chartier
◇◇———◇◇
Susie Hultquist
◇◇————◇
Pol Sikar
◇—————◇
Jody Levy
◇—————◇
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Director fee schedule

The standing retainers and premiums the board pays, as published.
Board cash retainer◇
Board equity retainer◇
Total board retainer◇
Audit committee chair◇
Audit committee member◇
Compensation committee chair◇
Compensation committee member◇
Equity is delivered as restricted stock units.

Disclosed peer group

The companies this board named as its compensation comparison group. The list is disclosure; the comparison is analysis.
Fiscal 2025
  • Alico, Inc. ALCO
  • Beyond Meat, Inc. BYND
  • Bridgford Foods Corp. BRID
  • Celsius Holdings, Inc. CELH
  • Coffee Holding Co., Inc. BRCB
  • Crimson Wine Group, Ltd. symbol not shown
  • e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. ELF
  • Farmer Bros Co. symbol not shown
  • Freshpet, Inc. FRPT
  • Laird Superfood, Inc. symbol not shown
  • LifeVantage Corp. LFVN
  • Limoneira Co. LMNR
  • Mama’s Creations, Inc MAMA
  • MGP Ingredients Inc. MGPI
  • Natural Alternatives International, Inc. symbol not shown
  • The Vita Coco Company, Inc. COCO
  • Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. TR
  • Village Farms International, Inc. VFF
  • Willamette Valley Vineyards, Inc. symbol not shown
  • Zevia PBC ZVIA

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Sample answer — “What is the CEO’s total compensation?”
- Julie Smolyansky (Chief Executive Officer, President and Secretary), FY2025 total compensation $3,389,132 (base salary $1,000,000) [exec_comp, SEC accession 0001683168-26-003375, filed 2026-04-30]

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What this page does not include

Everything above is a fact Lifeway Foods disclosed, and it is free. Everything below is our analysis of those facts, and it is not.
Peer benchmarking
Where Lifeway Foods sits against its disclosed peers — percentile position by role and by pay element, and the ranking behind it. The disclosed peer group is free; comparisons across it are part of the Velarion platform.
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Written compensation analysis
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Board and governance analysis
Committee composition, independence, director pay positioning, and the governance provisions read together rather than listed.
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Realizable pay
What the awards above are actually worth today against what they were valued at on grant, and what the gap says about the pay-for-performance link.
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Citations

Every figure on this page is cited to the document that reported it. Select any figure to see its citation.
63 figures on this page, cited to the filing that reported them.
63 cited to the filing

Documents cited

  1. 0001683168-26-003375
    NAMED EXECUTIVE OFFICER COMPENSATION
Cite this data
This page is free to cite. Attribution we ask for:
Velarion, “Lifeway Foods executive compensation, FY2024–FY2025.” https://intel.velarion.ai/comp/LWAY (accessed 2026).
Short form: data: Velarion

The paid brief for Lifeway Foods

Positioning against its disclosed peers, the governance read, incentive design, and the CD&A alignment analysis; the full peer table; a committee-ready PDF.
$500 for the Executive Compensation Report. Both reports for $900.
Get the executive briefGet the board briefNo account needed.
1 filing cited on this page
Method: intel.velarion.ai/methodology
A report that fails to generate is refunded in full
Published by Velarion Company Intelligence
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Peers Lifeway Foods discloses

The companies named in LWAY's own disclosed peer group.

Alico, Inc.Beyond Meat, Inc.Bridgford Foods Corp.Celsius Holdings, Inc.Coffee Holding Co., Inc.e.l.f. Beauty, Inc.Freshpet, Inc.LifeVantage Corp.Limoneira Co.Mama’s Creations, IncMGP Ingredients Inc.The Vita Coco Company, Inc.Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.Village Farms International, Inc.

Terms on this page

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Cite this data
APA
Velarion Company Intelligence. (2026). Velarion database: executive and board compensation data (Version 2026Q3) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854
BibTeX
@misc{velarionData2026,
  author = {{Velarion Company Intelligence}},
  title = {Velarion database: executive and board compensation data},
  year = {2026},
  version = {2026Q3},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.22283854},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854}
}
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