Peter Carter, executive vice president and chief legal officer at Atlanta's airline, dropped in the compensation ratings from No. 2 last year to No. 5 this year. But his actual compensation did not.

Carter's total cash comp of $1,415,555—a $545,833 salary and $869,722 in nonequity incentives—is a relatively slight increase from the $1,327,938 he earned in 2017. Carter also received about $1.9 million in stock awards last year and brought in another $637,529 in options.

Before joining Delta in July 2015, Carter was a trial lawyer for nearly 23 years at the Minneapolis-based firm Dorsey & Whitney. There, he successfully represented clients in several high-profile matters, served as chairman of the board, headed the securities and litigation practices and was on the road to becoming the firm's managing partner.

His connections to Delta go back to those days. Carter first met Richard Anderson, Delta's former CEO, when Anderson was GC and later CEO at Dorsey client Northwest Airlines Inc., which later merged with Delta. Anderson served as Delta's chief executive from 2007 to May 2016.