Cynthia Frost, vice president and chief investment officer, made $871,257 in compensation and benefits in 2006 and tops the list of Brown's highest-paid employees, according to its most recent tax filings.
Frost, who was hired as the investment chief in 2000, is responsible for investing the University's nearly $2.8 billion endowment. She reports to the chair of the investment committee of the Corporation, the University's highest governing body, as well as to Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Huidekoper.
The endowment stood at around $2.2 billion at the end of fiscal year 2006, President Ruth Simmons said at a faculty meeting in September. It fared relatively well in the last fiscal year despite the nationwide sub-prime mortgage crisis this summer, in part because many of the University's investment managers anticipated the collapse, she said.
The University's annual tax filings, which are part of public record because of Brown's nonprofit status, report major figures on its financial holdings, revenues and expenses and list the compensation of its officers and five highest-paid employees. The latest data, from the Internal Revenue Service's Form 990, are for fiscal year 2006, ending June 30, 2006.
In the tax filing, the University reported total assets of more than $3.35 billion at the end of fiscal year 2006, up from less than $2.93 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year. Nearly $2.4 billion of those assets were held in "investments," with the value of land and buildings owned by the University accounting for most of the remainder.
Simmons trailed Frost in second place in compensation and benefits, taking home $689,007 in fiscal year 2006. The median compensation for presidents of private universities has increased 37 percent since 2001, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported earlier this year, and stands now at just over $528,000.
Kenneth Shimberg, the Investment Office's director of real assets and private equity, was the next-highest paid with $660,697 in salary and benefits. According to the office's Web site, 11 percent of the University's $2.8 billion "long term pool," mostly consisting of its endowment, is currently invested in private equity, and 13 percent is held in real assets. Shimberg is one of five directors the Investment Office lists on its Web site.
Physicians at Alpert Medical School are among Brown's highest-paid employees. Eli Adashi, the dean of medicine and biological sciences who announced his resignation Wednesday, was the third-most compensated employee, earning $551,441, including benefits.
Edward Wing, professor of medicine and chair of the department, was paid $508,007, while Martin Keller, professor of psychiatry and human behavior and chair of the department, was paid $413,643.
Below Simmons, the two other individuals listed as officers are Huidekoper, who received $398,407 in salary and benefits, and then-Provost Robert Zimmer, now president of the University of Chicago, who received $467,517.
The other officers listed are the University's trustees, who do not receive any financial compensation or benefits.
In the IRS Form 990, the University reported $885 million in revenue in 2006 and $669 million in expenses. Of those expenses, $549 million was spent on "program service expenses," which include education, financial aid, research support and operational expenses for services such as residence halls, dining halls and the Brown Bookstore.
Of the $885 million in total revenue, just $341 million was collected in exchange for these "program services." That amount is only about 62 percent of the amount the University spent on them. Tuition and fees accounted for the largest chunk of this amount, netting the University $259 million.
