3 Florida university leaders in $1M club

Of highest 10 salaries in nation, UF, UCF and USF near the top

Florida’s public universities lead the nation in one area — how much they pay their presidents.

The leaders of three state universities — the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of Florida, — all made more than $1 million in the 2016-17 school year, according to a new survey from the Chronicle of Higher Education, which released the figures on Sunday.

UCF President John Hitt, who recently retired, was paid $1.3 million. USF’s Judy Genshaft was paid $1.2 million while UF’s Kent Fuchs received $1.1 million. The pay includes base salary, bonuses and other forms of compensation.

The presidents of South Florida’s two public

universities — Florida Atlantic University’s John Kelly and Florida International University’s Mark Rosenberg — also made above average salaries. The average pay for all public university presidents was $558,316, up 5 percent from the previous year, the Chronicle reported.

Kelly was paid $608,573, ranking him 64th of the 251 leaders. Rosenberg was paid $619,739, placing him 58th.

President salaries are generally set by university boards of trustees, who argue they must pay competitive salaries to recruit and retain top leaders. Many contracts include bonuses for hitting certain benchmarks, as well as deferred compensation if they stay a certain number of years.

In Florida, foundations, which are the fundraising arms of universities, pay a large share of a president’s salary.

Florida State University’s John Thrasher made $634,437. One of the lowest paid presidents in the country last year was Elmira Mangum of Florida A&M, who made $107,471.

The highest paid public university president in the survey was James Ramsey, former president of the University of Louisville. He was paid $4.3 million, most of which came from a $3.55 million deferred compensation package and a $687,000 settlement with the university.

The full report is available at chronicle.com/compensation