ASU's Michael Crow was top-paid public-university president in 2016, earning $1.5M A retention bonus of $550,000 makes Michael Crow the top salary earner in '16 as a growing number of universities rely on non-profit foundations to supplement president salaries.

Anne Ryman | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption ASU's Michael Crow top-paid public-university president in 2016 Arizona State University President Michael Crow was the highest-paid public-university president in 2016, earning just over $1.5 million, according to a survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow was the highest-paid public-university president in 2016, earning just over $1.5 million, according to a survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Of that, $550,000 came from private donors who set up a one-time, 10-year retention bonus for Crow through the university's non-profit foundation.

The private funds were enough to boost Crow into the top spot, making him one of eight public-university heads who brought home at least $1 million in compensation that year, according to the Chronicle, a national publication that conducts annual surveys on compensation.

Crow's base pay set by the Arizona Board of Regents was $600,000, and he received another $238,458 in supplemental compensation from the university foundation. He got a $150,000 bonus for meeting goals set by the regents, $550,000 retention bonus from the university foundation, and $15,600 in non-taxable benefits such as health insurance.

The retention bonus was accumulated over several years so Crow won't receive a similar bonus for the current school year, university officials said. Without the retention bonus, Crow would have had total compensation of just over $1 million, which likely would have ranked him No. 7 among public-college presidents.

The second-highest-paid university chief was University of Texas system Chancellor William McRaven, with a base salary of $1.2 million and a $300,000 bonus.

By comparison, the average total compensation for public-college presidents was $501,398 that year.

Regents Vice Chairman Bill Ridenour said the job of a university president has become increasingly complex and, under Crow, both fundraising and research have increased. Crow also has launched major innovations, such as offering online degrees to Starbucks employees, as well as partnerships with Adidas and the Mayo Clinic.

Crow is an entrepreneur, a visionary and a leader, Ridenour said.

"My thoughts are you can't pay Dr. Crow enough," he said.

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Salary supplements from foundations

Presidents' salaries are increasingly being supplemented with money from university foundations, which are the non-profit, fundraising arms of the schools, said Dan Bauman, author of the report and Chronicle database reporter.

The trend has pros and cons. The supplemental pay comes from private donations, not state or taxpayer funds. So it takes some of the sting out of concerns over the rising salaries of college presidents.

The downside is some critics believe university foundations should fund mainly scholarships and initiatives that benefit students and faculty, not supplement the chief executive's salary. California State trustees banned the use of private funds to supplement salaries in 2015 after criticism that it created potential conflict-of-interest concerns because many presidents also sit on the boards of university foundations.

Crow is listed as a member of the ASU Foundation Board of Directors.

ASU officials said the donations don't create a conflict of interest because they are not solicited by the university president, the president doesn't know the identify of the donors and doesn't approve the acceptance of donations to the retention and compensation fund.

ASU Foundation Board Chairman Bill Post said Crow was not involved in any discussions or decisions surrounding the retention and compensation fund.

He said the retention fund was set up in 2007, when Crow had already been president for five years and was "performing at a very high level."

ASU Foundation officials said "multiple donors" contributed specifically to the fund but declined to provide their names.

"We protect the privacy of people who give the contributions. It's up to each individual person if they want to tell that," said Post, who is the former chairman and CEO of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the parent company of Arizona Public Service.

"This wasn't done to move his salary. This was really done for retention purposes. The people were then, and still are, very impressed with Michael Crow and what he's done."

University officials said Crow was eligible for a 10-year retention bonus totaling $1.45 million in 2016. Because of his interest in supporting the ASU Public Service Academy, the donors redirected $900,000 to support the academy.

The academy trains undergraduate students to serve in non-profits, civil service and the military. Crow and his wife, Sybil Francis, kicked in another $300,000 of their own money, bringing the total donation to the academy to $1.2 million.

Crow received about a third of the retention bonus, or $550,000, ASU officials said.

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Foundation compensation varies

The practice of whether a university president receives money from the school's foundation varies among Arizona's three state universities.

Northern Arizona University President Rita Cheng does not receive supplemental compensation from the foundation, university officials said.

The University of Arizona's last president, Ann Weaver Hart, also did not receive compensation through the foundation, although there was an unsuccessful effort early on to supplement her annual salary with $100,000 in foundation funds.

The new UA president, Dr. Robert Robbins, has a compensation package worth at least $988,000 a year, including $200,000 from the University of Arizona Foundation.

Robbins, like Crow, is listed as a member of the foundation's board of trustees.

Crow is no longer eligible for a retention bonus from the foundation; however, the foundation has supplemented his salary annually since 2007 in a separate arrangement. That amount has been $100,000 a year and increased to a total $238,458 in fiscal 2016. The amount in future years is expected to decrease, ASU officials said.

Ridenour, the regents vice chairman, said he supports the trend of having private donors earmark money for president salaries. In fact, he said, when the regents conducted a national search for a new UA president, they discovered that many university presidents had retention bonuses supplemented by university foundations.

"Some of these people you couldn't even get in to talk to because their retention bonuses are so huge," he said.

Crow, 61, came to ASU in 2002 from Columbia University in New York, where he was executive vice provost.

Under his leadership, ASU's research funding has reached a record $518 million a year, and the university has added millions of square feet of classroom and laboratory space.

Enrollment under Crow's leadership has nearly doubled from about 55,500 students to 98,146 students as of fall 2016.

The percentage of minority and lower-income students has also increased. Student retention has improved and the number of students receiving bachelor's degrees each year has increased.

Tuition rates have more than doubled since Crow has been president, a trend that has been unpopular with parents and students. The regents have said that the increases were necessary to maintain quality and to serve more students after the state made steep funding cuts during the recession.

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While salaries for public-university presidents are on the rise, more million-dollar salaries are paid to the leaders of private universities.

The presidents of 39 private, non-profit universities made more than $1 million in 2014, up from 32 the previous year, according to the most recent survey by the Chronicle released in December.

The top earner was Jack Varsalona of Wilmington University in Delaware, with a total compensation package of $5.4 million that year that included special payments for retention and retirement.

And some perspective on what the heads of public corporations earn: The top executives at 41 large public corporations based in Arizona earned a median pay of $3.26 million in 2016, according to an analysis by The Arizona Republic.

The Million-Dollar Club

Eight public-university presidents brought home at least $1 million in total compensation in fiscal 2016, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's survey.

Here are the top eight:

Michael M. Crow, Arizona State University, $1,554,058. William H. McRaven, University of Texas system, $1,500,000. John Sharp, Texas A&M University system office, $1,280,438. W. Kent Fuchs, University of Florida, $1,160,480. Michael A. McRobbie, Indiana University system, $1,067,074. Eric J. Barron, Pennsylvania State University at University Park, $1,039,717. Michael V. Drake, Ohio State University, $1,034,574. Michael K. Young, Texas A&M University at College Station, $1,000,000.

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com.

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