The top ten earners at the 497 institutions surveyed in 2013 were:
(University, Name, Total Compensation)
- Columbia University (N.Y.), Lee C. Bollinger, $4,615,230
- University of Pennsylvania, Amy Gutmann, $3,065,746
- High Point University (N.C.), Nido Qubein, $2,909,148
- Yeshiva University (N.Y.), Richard Joel, $2,503,794
- Vanderbilt University (Tenn.), Nicholas S. Zeppos, $2,147,452
- Tulane University (La.), Scott Cowen, $1,634,000
- Johns Hopkins University (Md.), Ronald J. Daniels, $1,629,325
- Rockefeller University (N.Y,), Marc Tessier-Lavigne, $1,459,267
- New York University, John E. Sexton, $1,452,992
- University of Southern California, C.L. Nikias, $1,422,458
View the full compensation survey from The Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/compensation.
2013 total compensation for Georgia’s private college leaders
Emory University, James Wagner, $1,039,772
Berry College, Stephen Briggs, $500,687
Spelman College, Beverly Daniel Tatum, $416,918*
Mercer University, William Underwood, $366,440
Clark Atlanta University, Carlton Brown, $361,436**
Morehouse College, John Wilson, $329,529
Reinhardt University, J. Thomas Isherwood, $295,821***
Agnes Scott College, Elizabeth Kiss, $294,078
LaGrange College, Dan McAlexander, $275,337
Piedmont College, James Mellichamp, $229,983
Wesleyan College, Ruth Knox, $147,380
* - stepped down as president July 2015
** - stepped down as president June 2015
*** - stepped down as president May 2015
» PHOTOS: Georgia's highest-paid private college leaders in 2013
Emory University’s president James Wagner led the state in earnings in 2013 for leaders of Georgia’s private colleges and universities, according to a compensation survey published Sunday by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Wagner, whose total compensation was listed at almost$1.04 million, was one of 32 private college presidents whose total compensation surpassed $1 million that year. Since 2008, 77 presidents have earned that distinction, according to The Chronicle.
The survey of 558 chief executives at 497 private nonprofit colleges in the country is an update to to executive-compensation data compiled by the higher education news service and publication. The median salary for leaders in office for the full year was $436,429, an increase of 5.6 percent from 2012, according to the report.
Of the executives included in the survey, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger earned the most, with $4.6 million in total compensation.
Information for the survey was taken from calendar-year compensation data from the Internal Revenue Service’s Form 990 for the private nonprofit bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral institutions with the 500 largest endowments. The total compensation amounts include base pay, bonuses, nontaxable benefits, and other pay, which often includes deferred compensation.
Following Wagner, Berry College president Stephen Briggs with more than $500,000 in compensation earned the second-most among the 11 leaders of Georgia private schools included in the survey. Ruth Knox, president of Wesleyan College in Macon, earned the least among Georgia’s leaders with about $147,000 in compensation.
When measured by only base pay, Wagner again led Georgia’s private college leaders, with a base pay of about $900,000. Briggs held the second position again with a base pay of almost $365,000.
Wagner is set to step down as Emory's president at the end of August next year after a 13 years of leading the prestigious liberal arts institution. During his tenure, Emory's enrollment has grown to more than 14,700 and the school has regularly been on national rankings of best colleges and universities.
The Chronicle’s private college president compensation survey follows a similar review of public college presidents released in June. That survey included data from fiscal 2014 of leaders at public doctoral research universities and state college and university systems with at least three campuses and at least 50,000 students.
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