- Related article: At $800,000 a year, Michigan AD Dave Brandon has the university's highest base salary
The University of Michigan's top 16 executives bring in $7.19 million in base pay— up 5 percent over last year.
Dave Brandon
Yet the base pay for several administrators doesn't account for six-figure bonuses or retention perks.
Athletic director Dave Brandon, who has the top base pay of $800,000, is more likely to make upwards of $1 million this year. In addition to his base, Brandon receives $100,000 in annual deferred compensation and has the possibility of a $200,000 bonus. Brandon received a $165,000 bonus last year, the highest possible under his old contract, according to documents obtained by AnnArbor.com through a Freedom of Information Request.
Per a contract extension established last summer, Brandon could make as much as $1.5M in 2018.
Brandon's pay is a $200,000 increase over last year.
University of Michigan chief investment officer Erik Lundberg.
Booth file photo
Chief investor Erik Lundburg earns a salary of $575,000. However Lundberg, who is in charge of growing U-M's $7.7 billion endowment, actually makes more than double that.
Lundberg earned $1.36 million in 2011, according to W-2 information obtained by AnnArbor.com through FOIA. That's because Lundberg's pay is tied to the performance of U-M's investments.
"This incentive pay structure is standard for large university endowments and the total cost for managing the endowment is in line with other large endowments in the country," U-M spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald wrote in an e-mail.
Although U-M President Mary Sue Coleman earns a base salary just above $603,000, her actual compensation package is roughly 50 percent higher. In addition to her base salary, she earns a $100,000 yearly retention bonus, $175,000 in annual deferred compensation and $50,000 in annual retirement pay. She also receives the use of a car and residence.
University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman during a Board of Regents meeting on Thursday.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
Coleman also serves on the executive boards of Johnson & Johnson and Meredith Corp. She took home $425,400 in 2011 for her service on those two boards, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education database derived from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Since Coleman began as president in 2002, her base pay has grown by more than $110,000. Both this year and last year Coleman donated her raise to scholarships. The donations are one-time gifts and the raise is not repeatedly invested in scholarship, according to U-M spokesperson Kelly Cunningham.
U-M regent S. Martin Taylor, who is part of the governing body that establishes Coleman's salary, said that after benchmarking Coleman's salary with her peers he found it's "not out of line in terms of being too high."
"If anything it is too low," he said when the Board of Regents awarded Coleman a raise in September.
Ora Pescovitz spoke at the AnnArbor.com Deals of the Year awards banquet at Eastern Michigan University Student Center on Nov. 4, 2011.
Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com
"I am very well compensated," Coleman said in September.
U-M Health System executive officer Ora Pescovitz earns $753,806 in base pay and another $100,000 in deferred compensation. Her bonus can reach $150,000 per year.
In 2011, she earned $855,000, roughly $116,000 more than her base pay then, FOIA documents show.
Doug Strong, UMHS financial chief and Pescovitz's second-in-command, earns $625,770 in base pay and gets another $60,000 in deferred compensation. He also has the possibility of lucrative performance bonuses.
Deborah Kowich, interim general counsel, is earning $312,206 per year —the same as former general counsel Suellyn Scarnecchia, who resigned in May. Kowich will be replaced on Jan. 7 by permanent chief lawyer Timothy Lynch, who will earn $400,000, or 28 percent more than his predecessor.
That's the second-largest salary increase of a top administrator position this fiscal year. He'll bring the earnings of U-M's top 16 executives to $7.28 million.
Lynch wasn't included in the 2012 salary report released by the college.
Executive officers and regents applaud University of Michigan Provost Philip Hanlon during a meeting on Thursday for his appointment to Dartmouth College's presidency, effective July 2013.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
Merit increases for top executives ranged from 1.5 percent to 5 percent this year. The average merit increase for executive officers —not including Brandon, Strong and Lundberg— was 2.8 percent, compared to an average 2.9 percent merit increase for faculty and a 2.2 percent merit increase for staff.
Merit increases are based on performance and do not include salary adjustments made for other reasons.
Provost Philip Hanlon received the largest merit increase among executive officers. Dartmouth College recently announced that Hanlon would leave U-M to become president of the Ivy League college in July 2013.
Top U-M executives ranked by their base pay:
- Dave Brandon — athletic director — $800,000, up 33 percent from $600,454. Salary does not come from general fund.
- Ora Pescovitz — executive VP for medical affairs — $753,806, up 2 percent from $739,025. Salary does not come from general fund.
- Douglas Strong — CEO of U-M hospitals and health centers — $625,770, up 2.25 percent from $612,000. Salary does not come from general fund.
- Mary Sue Coleman — president — $603,357, up 3 percent from $585,783. Salary derived fully from general fund.
- Erik Lundberg — chief investment officer — $575,000, the same as last year. Salary does not come from general fund.
- Timothy P. Slottow — executive VP and chief financial officer— $568,218, up 3 percent from $551,668. Salary comes fully from general fund.
- Philip Hanlon — provost and executive VP of academic affairs — $509,292, up 5 percent from $485,040. Salary derived fully from general fund.
- Timothy G. Lynch, recently tapped as VP and general counsel, will earn $400,000 when he begins Jan. 7. That's 28 percent more than his predecessor, Suellyn Scarnecchia, who earned $312,206. Interim general counsel Deborah Kowich is earning $312,206. Salary derived from general fund.
- Stephen Forrest — VP for research — $375,396, up 2.7 percent from $365,348. Roughly 83 percent of salary comes from general fund.
- Jerry May— VP for development — $365,790, up 3 percent from $355,136. Salary comes fully from general fund.
- E. Royster Harper — VP for student affairs — $309,450, up 2.8 percent from $301,168. Salary derived fully from general fund.
- Daniel E. Little — U-M Dearborn chancellor — $294,744, up 1.5 percent from $290,388. Salary comes fully from general fund.
- Cynthia Wilbanks — VP of government relations — $286,303, up 2.7 percent from $278,641. Salary derived fully from general fund.
- Lisa Rudgers — VP for global communications and strategic initiatives — $278,100, up 3 percent from $270,000. Salary derived fully from general fund.
- Sally Jo Churchill — VP and secretary for the university — $269,208, up 2.5 percent from $262,642. Salary derived fully from general fund.
- Ruth J. Person — U-M Flint Chancellor — $265,296, up 1.5 percent from $261,375. Salary comes fully from general fund.
Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.