From John Curry, November 30, 2008
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"The bonus program [at OSU] can occasionally hit 50 percent for extraordinary performance or when Gee meets long-term goals."
Business First of Columbus - by Carrie Ghose
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee cemented his spot as the highest-paid president of a U.S. public university on Friday when trustees approved a bonus structure that bumped him past a million dollars for his first year in office.
Trustees Chairman Gilbert Cloyd was quick to point out that the school compares itself to the top private as well as public institutions.
Trustees approved boosting Gee’s base pay by 3.5 percent to $802,125 from $775,000. He’s also receiving a 40 percent, or $310,000, performance bonus for his first full year and will be eligible for bonuses of up to 40 percent in future years.
His total compensation since being hired in October 2007, including deferred pay and retirement benefits, comes to $1.4 million, and could approach $2 million this year if he earns his full bonus, Cloyd said.
“The bonus is not an entitlement,” Cloyd said. “In future years, if the performance is not meeting goals, it could be less or none.”
The bonus program can occasionally hit 50 percent for extraordinary performance or when Gee meets long-term goals.
Gee had been working under an employment agreement since last October that included the $775,000 in base pay along with $225,000 in deferred compensation that he can collect upon completing five years of service.
Private pay
The new package also includes a board-approved supplemental plan to Gee’s retirement package, funded through an Academic Excellence Fund. It would be a first for a state university to allow private contributions to go toward an official’s compensation. The fund, with a $300 million fundraising goal, is modeled after an endowed professorship and would enable Gee to get a year’s sabbatical at full pay if he stays for 10 years. It also would meet the gap from any state pension program to bring his retirement pay after that to 70 percent of his base pay upon retirement.
If Gee stays the full 10 years, the sabbatical and retirement pay from private donors would equal about one-third of his cumulative compensation, Cloyd said.
State ethics law prohibits public servants from receiving pay for official duties from anyone other than their employer. However, an endowment controlled by trustees creates a barrier between the donors and the president, Cloyd said. He would not specify if the school will seek a formal opinion from the Ohio Ethics Commission, which ruled in a similar case this year that athletics boosters could not directly pay public school coaches, but could donate to a fund controlled by the school board.
After meeting with the commission and the Ohio attorney general’s office, Cloyd said, “We’re very confident what we’re doing now will meet the letter of the law.”
Keeping up with the times
In approving the package, trustees said that the nation’s economic crisis only increases Ohio State’s need to keep a president they believe can help it keep growing in tough times.
Trustee Algenon Marbley, a federal judge, said he’d made another important vote on on Election Day on Tuesday and “I have an opportunity to vote for yet another transformative figure.”
Student trustee Jason Marion, a nonvoting member, said he came to support the package after some soul-searching in light of classmates struggling to pay tuition and his concern over inflated pay for CEOs nationwide.
“To attract the top talent ... unfortunately we have to pay the price,” he said. “I understand the league we play in.”
Cloyd said Gee had exceeded the goals he and the board set when he arrived last year, including hiring leaders for OSU Medical Center and several key areas such as investments and information technology and making progress in streamlining bureaucracy.
Gee called himself humbled and honored.
“It puts a tremendous amount of expectation on me to perform, and I accept that,” he said. “I believe very strongly in what we’re doing at this university. I believe very strongly in the progress we’re making.”
He said he still gets frequent calls from headhunters, but added after leaving Ohio State and returning once – he also was president from 1991-97 – he has no intention of leaving again.
posted by Kathie Bracy at 9:58 PM
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