Kennedy will receive much higher pay than Benson

The University of Colorado is going to have dig a little deeper into its pockets when newly hired president Mark Kennedy takes office in July.

Kennedy will receive $650,000 in base pay in his first year, a roughly 81 percent increase over outgoing CU president Bruce Benson, who is paid $358,500 a year. Starting in June 2020, Kennedy’s annual base salary will rise to $850,000.

The increase isn’t unexpected. In July, a consultant told CU’s regents that, when the time came to find Benson’s successor, they should prepare for a marketplace in which university presidents are earning $1 million or more in total compensation, according to Boulder’s Daily Camera newspaper.

For example, William H. McRaven, president of the University of Texas system, makes $1.5 million a year, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education salary database. Michael V. Drake, president of Ohio State University, makes $1.07 million a year, and David W. Pershing, president of the University of Utah, makes $824,941 a year.

Benson, a multimillionaire before he took the CU job, had declined raises and accepted a 5 percent pay cut during the Great Recession.

Tony Frank, who is stepping down as president of Colorado State University’s Fort Collins campus this summer, will continue to serve as chancellor for the overall CSU system, and will earn $500,000 a year beginning July 1. His salary will increase by $25,000 a year until it reaches $600,000 on July 1, 2013, according to his contract.

The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Benson 191st out of 251 public university executives in the 2016-17 school year, when the publication calculated his compensation as $324,312. If he had been paid what Kennedy will earn in his first year, he would have ranked 49th, and would have risen to 19th at Kennedy’s second-year salary.

Kennedy earned $365,000 in base pay annually as president of the University of North Dakota, according to the Grand Forks Daily Herald.

Kennedy’s CU contract also will allow up to $200,000 in bonuses, including:

• $50,000 for creating a strategic planning process framework.

• $50,000 for conducting at least four visits to Colorado communities other than Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs.

• $50,000 for working on an outreach plan and conducting visits with alumni, donors and government leaders.

• $50,000 for helping to create a campaign aimed at supporting diversity and inclusion.

Other compensation in the contract includes:

• $80,000 for moving expenses and temporary housing while Kennedy gets settled.

• $15,000 in reimbursement for mileage costs for official business in Colorado.

• Access to a suite for home football games and basketball season tickets for up to four people.

• Initiation fees for one Boulder or Denver-area country or social club.

• Retirement plan contributions of up to 10 percent of Kennedy’s salary.

If the regents voted to fire Kennedy without cause, CU would owe him his base salary for any time remaining on his contract, which runs through June 2022, minus any pay he would receive in a new position during that time.

The university would owe him nothing if he were fired for misconduct or if he resigned, except under narrow circumstances, such as if he resigned because of certain actions by the regents.