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Ohio’s Public University Presidents Rank High In National Compensation Survey
By: Bill Rice | WCPN
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Former Ohio State president Gordon Gee took home more than $6 million last year, far outstripping the second-highest paid public university president for the year.
He also made the top base pay – $850,000. But as the Chronicle’s database reporter Jonah Newman said, his resignation at the end of the 2012-2013 school year catapulted his income into the multi-millions of dollars.
"Often the presidents at the top of our list are earning quite a bit of money on their way out," Newman said.
The three presidents at the top of the list – that’s Gordon Gee, Bowen Loftin at Texas A&M University Hamid Shirvani at the North Dakota University System were all on their way out and received quite large, significant payouts because of that.
Gee’s Total compensation included $3.85 million in severance and deferred pay as part of his package when he left.
Cleveland State’s Ronald Berkman ranked 36th in overall compensation, at $667,000. Next (at 44th) was David Hopkins, president of Wright State, $646,000, followed by Kent State University President Lester Lefton, who ranked 46th at nearly $636,000.
A total of nine Ohio Public University presidents ranked among the top 100 in the chronicle survey.