While the average compensation for chief executives at major U.S. companies shrank significantly for a second year as the nation struggled to recover from the worst recession in decades, Georgia’s top corporate bosses saw only a slight decline in their average pay — and some got dramatic increases.

More than half the CEOs at Georgia’s 25 largest public companies saw their compensation fall in 2009. Still, median pay — what the CEO in the middle of the earning range received — actually inched up less than 1 percent, according to a review of the companies’ most recent proxy statements by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (read more at ajc.com)