Executive pay at nonprofits can be a somewhat controversial topic. Some believe executives at nonprofits should be paid minimally, keeping overhead low and allocating more resources for the nonprofit’s mission. Others recognize the struggle to maintain adequate staffing and attract the necessary top-end talent to keep the organization running effectively and efficiently. In either case, CEOs tend to be the highest-paid executives at any organization.
With that in mind, below is a list of the top 10 highest-paid CEOs at nonprofits for the most recent complete fiscal year: 2018*
Company | Name | Title | Salary | "Other" pay |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc | Bernard Tyson | Chairman & CEO | $15,709,853 | $2,173,780 |
Delta Dental Plan of Michigan | Laura L Czelada | CEO, President | $14,842,204 | $23,592 |
United States Steel and Carnegie Pension Fund | W Donovan | President (exited 12/17) | $13,423,001 | $0 |
Memorial Health System | Edgar Curtis | President & CEO | $10,604,807 | $140,392 |
American Petroleum Institute | Jack N Gerard | President & CEO | $10,604,807 | $64,686 |
Prohealth Care Inc | Susan Edwards | President & CEO | $8,750,430 | $41,015 |
St Luke’s Health System LTD | David C Pate MD JD | President & CEO | $8,530,470 | $33,671 |
Advocate Aurora Health Inc | James Skogsbergh | Co-CEO, Director | $8,463,174 | $48,435 |
New York and Presbyterian Hospital | Steven J Corwin | President & CEO/Trustee | $8,251,815 | $2,123,705 |
Montefiore Medicine Academic Health System Inc | Steven M Safyer MD | President & CEO | $7,985,351 | $45,244 |
It should be noted that salaries in the high millions for CEOs are not the norm, with typically only the largest of organizations paying executives in that vicinity. Average nonprofit CEO salary for the year was much lower, coming in at $148,733.
Of particular interest in this list is the high percentage of healthcare and health-related organizations represented here. ERI recently wrote a whitepaper analyzing CEO pay at nonprofits, which found healthcare to be one of the highest paying nonprofit industries as a whole. All of this compensation information and more can be found in ERI’s Nonprofit Comparables Assessor.
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Below is a list of the top 10 highest-paid CEOs at nonprofits for the most recent complete fiscal year: 2017*
Company | Name | Title | Salary | "Other" pay |
---|---|---|---|---|
Banner Health | Peter S Fine | President & CEO | $21,629,920 | $3,919,724 |
Imanco Inc | J Knox Singleton | CEO, President | $13,655,282 | $1,945,495 |
Ascension Health Alliance | Anthony R Tersigni | Ex-Officio/President & CEO | $13,200,960 | $48,801 |
Multiple Organizations | Kenneth Davis | Chief Executive Officer | $12,390,588 | $67,326 |
Carilion Services Inc | Nancy Howell Agee | Director/President/CEO | $11,987,536 | $205,141 |
Dignity Health | Lloyd H Dean | President/CEO | $11,927,529 | $1,489,954 |
Money Management International Inc | Ivan L Hand | President | $11,873,017 | $1,522,626 |
Delta Dental Plan of Michigan | Laura L Czelada | CEO, President | $11,593,754 | $3,521,854 |
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc | Bernard Tyson | Chairman & CEO | $10,709,503 | $5,373,250 |
Aurora Health Care Inc | Nick Turkal | CEO, Ex Officio Director | $10,663,333 | $766,389 |
* Kenneth Davis’ $12,390,588 in compensation came from a combination of payments from the following 5 different organizations where he served as Chief Executive Officer: $1,919,302 from St Lukes Roosevelt Hospital Center; $281,266 from New York Eye & Ear Infirmary; $4,134,739 from Mount Sinai Hospital; $1,934,171 from Beth Israel Medical Center; and $4,121,110 from Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai.
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Below is a list of the highest-paid nonprofit CEOs for the complete fiscal year: 2016
Company | Name | Title | Salary | "Other" pay |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ascension Health Alliance | Anthony R. Tersigni | President/CEO | $13,559,831 | $67,855 |
Sutter Health | Patrick Fry | President & CEO | $13,161,450 | $279,177 |
Virginia Mason Medical Center | Gary Kaplan | Chairman, CEO | $11,562,939 | $154,309 |
Delta Dental Plan of Michigan Inc | Laura L. Czelada | CEO, President | $9,213,107 | $2,693,718 |
Dignity Health | Lloyd H. Dean | President/CEO | $8,712,814 | $1,547,801 |
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc | Bernard Tyson | Chairman & CEO | $8,529,498 | $1,509,737 |
Spectrum Health System | Richard Breon | President/CEO | $7,945,374 | $1,522,626 |
The Aerospace Corporation | M. Austin | President & CEO | $7,941,497 | $1,824,683 |
Sentara Healthcare | David L. Bernd | Director/CEO | $7,825,434 | $81,327 |
Medstar Health Inc | Kenneth A. Samet | CEO and President | $7,675,042 | $76,815 |
Looking for more information?
Detailed nonprofit executive compensation data, including source documents and historic data, can be found in ERI’s Nonprofit Comparables Assessor.
ERI Economic Research Institute compiles the most robust salary, cost-of-living, and executive compensation survey data available, with current market data for more than 1,000 industry sectors.
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