UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Board of Trustees today (Nov. 10) approved a salary increase for University President Eric Barron based on the recommendation of the board’s Committee on Compensation. The full board also received information on increases granted to four other University executives. All of the raises are in line with the general salary increase program for the entire University.
The committee recommended that Barron receive a 2-percent merit increase, based on what was deemed as “exceptional performance,” bringing his current base salary to $834,364 per year. Under the Compensation Committee Operating Guidelines, a vote of the full board is required for presidential compensation approval, but is not necessary for salary increases for members of senior leadership (classified under Tier II and Tier IIA). The performance and compensation of those executives were discussed Thursday (Nov. 9) by committee and released publicly.
The board’s Committee on Compensation based the salary adjustments recommended for Barron and his senior leadership team on not only their experience, performance, areas of oversight and duties, but also on the University’s pool of allocated funds for annual salary adjustments. As in previous years, a 360-degree evaluation of the president was conducted, in which 100 people were asked to complete the assessment. The evaluators were asked to take into account the president’s goals and objectives and his performance in light of those established goals.
The compensation of the following individuals — classified as Tier II executives — was approved by the committee and shared with the full board:
- Nicholas Jones, executive vice president and provost, annual salary of $542,532
- David Gray, senior vice president for Finance and Business, annual salary of $511,476
- Craig Hillemeier, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center dean and CEO and senior vice president for Health Affairs, annual salary of $953,700
In addition, the Tier IIA executive recommended for a salary increase is Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour. She will now receive an annual salary of $735,420.
The Committee on Compensation was formed in November 2013 and is charged with recommending and/or approving the compensation packages of a small group of certain senior executives, in order to ensure compensation decisions are based on data and comparative analyses.