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June 26, 2003

Regents determine CEO salaries

>>> Related: Regents institutions receive gifts for top leaders

TOPEKA – At its June meeting, the Kansas Board of Regents made salary decisions for the six state university CEO’s for FY 2004.

"We realize that we have a tremendous amount of talent and leadership at our six state universities," said Board member and CEO Assessment Committee Chair Lew Ferguson. "It is unfortunate that the dollars we receive from the state do not permit us to fully recognize the contributions made to our students, and our state, by our university leaders."

The university presidents and Chancellor received no salary increase during the 2003 fiscal year.

For FY 2004, the Governor, and the 2003 Legislature, approved a 1.5 percent increase for all state employees. The Board approved a 1.5 percent increase, above FY 2003 levels, for the CEO’s in the state university system. In addition, the Board authorized each of the university CEO’s to receive as compensation, an amount of private funding (if available) such that their total compensation does not exceed the average amounts of their respective peer institutions. The Board’s decision will permit the institutional CEO’s at K-State, KU and WSU to receive supplemental amounts, which were made possible by gifts from a private donor to the respective university endowments.

"Kansas has a good model for higher education and we want to build on that. Retaining our university leadership is part of that model," said Ferguson. "The demands we place on our university leaders continue to increase, but we have not been able to keep pace with appropriate compensation. We must find ways to stay competitive with our peer institutions both in the Big 12 and nationally."

According to a Chronicle of Higher Education survey, approximately one-third of the 131 public university presidents receive supplemental compensation from private sources. Historically, top public universities have had to turn to private dollars to supplement salaries of their best professors or administrators in order to keep them on staff and remain competitive in the academic arena.

"We have been very fortunate that we have not lost a university president or Chancellor in the past several years," said Board member and former Chair Bill Docking. "If we expect our university leaders to keep us ahead of the pack, we must rethink the way we compensate them."

The Board set the total authorized compensation for the six institutional CEO’s as an interim step. A CEO Compensation Working Group has been established examine issues related to use of private funds to supplement state university CEO salaries. This group will continue to review CEO compensation and will make additional recommendations to the Board in Fall 2003.

The Kansas Board of Regents approved the following compensation for state university CEO’s for FY 2004, effective July 20, 2003:

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dick Carter, Jr.
Director for External Relations
785-296-1486

February 11, 2004 12:30 PM