Penn’s Gutmann among highest paid college presidents

The University of Pennsylvania's Amy Gutmann was one of 30 private-college executives who earned more than $1 million in total compensation, according to a new report by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The study covers the 2008-2009 school year and includes 448 private-college presidents.

Gutmann actually slipped from being the twelfth highest compensated president nationally in the year before to fifteenth in the current survey. Her total compensation was reported as $1,367,004, with $893,030 of that coming from wages.

The previous year, Gutmann received $1.22 million--$825,000 in salary and the rest in benefits.

The Penn president was not the area's highest paid college official, however. That distinction when to the late Constantine J. Padadakis who is widely credited with transforming Drexel University. His total compensation was $1,626,092, the nineth highest in the country, the Chronicle reports. Of the total, $1,006,907 of that were wages.

Coming in at number one nation-wide was Touro College's Bernard Lander, a rabbi and sociologist who founded the New York City-based institution in 1970 and helped it grow into an operation with 31 schools and colleges and branches around the world. He remained at the helm until his death earlier this year. His salary was $435,844, but his total compensation was $4,786,830, most of which was deferred compensation and is being paid retroactively to his estate, according to the Chronicle.

The highest earning sitting college president was Southern Methodist University's R. Gerald Turner, who total compensation was $2,774,000. About $1.6 million of that was a university insurance policy he cashed out to buy his own, according to Chronicle spokesman Michael Solomon.

Due to increased requirements on what kind of executive compensation colleges must report to the federal government, the Chronicle did not compare the change in presidents' earnings to last year. According to staffer Andrea Fuller, colleges had to report the monetary value of fringe benefits like homes and cars, in addition to salary, health insurance and pension benefits.

However, the Chronicle predicts future increases in the number of million-dollar presidents - unheard of before 2005. The reasons include the large number of Baby Boomer executives expected to be retiring and receiving large cash-outs.

In addition, the Chronicle noted that more and more college boards are made up of business people, who are used to for-profit sector practices like incentitve bonuses to attract top candidates.

According to Chronicle data, the largest number of college presidents made between $200,000 and $399,000, but their ranks fell from 203 the year before to 185 in the current study.

Meanwhile, presidents in the higher paid categories grew. The college executives who earned $1 million or more went from 23 to 30. Those making between $800,000 to $999,000 rose from 14 to 24. The $600,000-to-$799,000 earners grew from 35 to 43, and those pulling in between $400,000 and $599,000 went from 95 to 127.

While that overall trend is expect to continue, Solomon noted the salaries surveyed in the new report were mostly set before the high of the economic turn down.

"Next year, we may see some universities that put in some stops (in compensation increases) to set a good example for the university," he said.

In the 2009-2010 school year, Penn's Gutmann along with the university's officers and deans received no pay increases, said spokesman Lori Doyle. In 2008, Gutmann and her husband Michael Doyle personally donated $100,000 to aid undergraduate research, she said.

In New Jersey, the private college with the highest-compensated private-college president had been Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. Its former president, Harold J. Raveche, received a total of $1,581,466. He left the school amid allegations of financial impropriety. Princeton University's Shirley M. Tolghman made $881,151. At Rider University, with campuses in Lawrenceville and Princeton, Mordechai Rozanski's presidental compensation was $663,117.

In Pennsyvania, Alice P. Gast, president of Lehigh University was third in the state at $915,557 in compensation. As president of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, John A. Fry, came in fourth in state at $860,919, according to the Chronicle. Earlier this year, he was named president of Drexel. His salary has not yet been disclosed and was not part of the Chronicle's study.

Contact staff writer Rita Giordano at 856-779-3841 or rgiordano@phillynews.com.