Bowen led private college chief pay in region in 2012

JOHN J. BOWEN, chancellor, president and CEO of Johnson & Wales University, led the region's private college presidents in pay in 2012, according to the latest Chronicle of Higher Education study, with earnings of $767,727 for the year.
JOHN J. BOWEN, chancellor, president and CEO of Johnson & Wales University, led the region's private college presidents in pay in 2012, according to the latest Chronicle of Higher Education study, with earnings of $767,727 for the year.

(Updated, 2:25 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass., private college presidents earned well under the million-dollar mark in 2012, according to a new report by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Based on federal 990 tax forms and data from the U.S. Department of Higher Education, the Chronicle completed its calculations for private colleges across the country by focusing only on money received by the college presidents in the 2012 tax year, a departure from previous years, in which it added deferred compensation to the totals.

The methodology change is intended to reflect what college presidents actually earn, said Chronicle writer Sandhya Kambhampati.

“After collecting feedback from colleges and considering how most people tend to think about pay, we decided this year to count only the amount a president actually received. That means the figures reported for 2012 no longer include compensation, such as retirement pay, that was set aside for future years but was not actually paid out in 2012,” Kambhampati wrote.

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The Chronicle analysis found that 36 college presidents earned more than 1 million dollars in 2012, though the typical compensation across the U.S. came in at closer to $400,000, Kambhampati said.

According to the database compiled by the magazine, at the top of the list in Rhode Island was John J. Bowen, chancellor, president and CEO of Johnson & Wales University in Providence. He earned total compensation of $767,727 in 2012.

In a story this past June by Providence Business News, Bowen’s total compensation came in at $1.2 million for 2011, but like the Chronicle, for that year, PBN included a base pay of $593,521 and deferred compensation totaling $503,576. He also received a $10,000 bonus the year prior.

Other 2012 compensation amounts reported by the Chronicle include:

  • Ronald K. Machtley, president of Bryant University in Smithfield, $737,262
  • Ruth J. Simmons, former president of Brown University in Providence (her term finished at the end of June 2012), $676,324
  • Richard I. Gouse, president of New England Institute of Technology in East Greenwich, $674,795
  • Donald J. Farish, president of Roger Williams University in Bristol, $427,077
  • Christina Hull Paxson, current president of Brown (her term began July 2, 2012), $394,721
  • Sister Jane Gerety, president of Salve Regina University in Newport, $68,431
  • Rev. Brian J. Shanley, president of Providence College in Providence, $54,808

In Bristol County, Mass., information was not available for current Wheaton College President Dennis M. Hanno, who started in his post in Norton on July 14. His predecessor, Ronald A. Crutcher, earned $416,354.

At Stonehill College in Easton, President and Rev. Mark T. Cregan earned $42,838.

Information about the pay of the president of Rhode Island School of Design, John Maeda at the time, was not included in the Chronicle of Higher Education report because RISD’s endowment was not among the largest 500 as reported by the U.S. Department of Education, which was the set of school the publication looked at.

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