Ontario colleges defend executive pay hikes

Proposed salary increases could see some presidents earn up to $494,000 a year

Is the head of Humber College worth a hefty half-a-mil?

What about the presidents of Algonquin, George Brown, Seneca or Sheridan?

That’s the question college boards across Ontario are considering in light of proposals to boost the pay of their executives. If the proposals are adopted, five of the 24 presidents could potentially be earning $494,000, and even the lowest-paid could earn $325,000 — including the head of Northern College, which has about 1,900 students.

“It takes a certain skill level to be a president of a college,” and especially one in the north, said George Kemp, chair of the board of Timmins-based Northern College, whose president now earns $258,663.

“To suggest it is based on size . . . you don’t pay your president onetenth of what the other presidents get.”

He said the proposed rate is the top-end only, and not a done deal.

News of the proposed pay hikes come as Premier Kathleen Wynne is on a weeklong tour of Ontario colleges and universities. On Monday, she visited Humber, whose president earns $432,765.

The new “frameworks” for executive compensation are required by the provincial government, now that a pay freeze for senior executives has ended. All of Ontario’s colleges received the help of the same outside consultant. The colleges contacted by the Star held firm in the work done by the outside consultant and their own boards. For all colleges, roughly 20 per cent of the proposed new pay rate is considered “at risk,” and could be docked in whole or in part if certain conditions aren’t met.

“As a citizen, you have to recognize that our executives have been frozen since 2012, salary-wise,” said Charlie Regan, who chairs Centennial’s board of governors. “. . . When we looked at ours, relative to us retaining and getting the talent that we need to keep our business running effectively as we have,” the compensation is appropriate.

Colleges insist the amounts are maximum, and that “obviously you don’t start off at the top when you are hiring somebody new,” said Scott Blakey, chief administration officer of Durham College. However, he added, over time the amount could reach the maximum.

Colleges will be examining the salary proposals over the coming months, and have been asking for public input via their websites.

Don Lovisa, president of Durham College, could soon earn almost half a million dollars.

Mary Preece is the president of Sheridan College. The proposal follows a pay freeze that began in 2012.

George Brown president Anne Sado is one executive whose salary could be raised under a new proposal.