Changes to tax reporting requirements have made this year's compensation figures difficult to compare with previous years' numbers, administrators said, though filings now include data for more University employees.
The University, like all nonprofit organizations, is required to file public annual reports on the Internal Revenue Service's Form 990, which contains financial information including the salaries of top officials for the filing period. Though most figures in the tax filings are based on the fiscal year, salaries of highly paid employees were for the first time required to be reported by calendar year to allow the Internal Revenue Service to check them against employees' yearly tax filings, said Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Beppie Huidekoper.
For the 2008 calendar year, President Ruth Simmons received a total compensation of $884,771. In the previous filings, covering July 2007 to June 2008, Simmons received $818,462 in total compensation.
Huidekoper said the bulk of Simmons' apparent increase in pay is attributed to a change in reporting procedures for the tax form that required the University to report as part of total compensation $47,633 in nontaxable benefits such as housing.
Chancellor Thomas Tisch '76, who leads Brown's Corporation, said comparing the two figures is difficult because the most recent figure picks up compensation from the previous report and includes housing. The Corporation, the University's highest governing body, sets Simmons' salary every year.
"This is a very funky year in the way the 990s were picking up income, and it makes reliance on the 990s quite tricky," Tisch said. "Year-to-year comparisons are virtually impossible."
Still, Tisch said it was during this period that Simmons first asked for a voluntary reduction in her compensation, which will be reflected in subsequent tax filings.
The pay for other senior administrators remained relatively constant.
Total compensation for Huidekoper in calendar year 2008 leveled at $436,024, from $436,701 in fiscal year 2008.
Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 earned $508,496 in total compensation in calendar year 2008, up from $476,473 in fiscal year 2008. The previous report's figure, however, does not include $45,548 in nontaxable benefits including University housing given to the provost that was included in this report.
Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Cynthia Frost was the University's highest-compensated employee for the calendar year, earning $899,121. In the previous fiscal year, she made $1,076,060.
Others in the Investment Office showed similar trends. Managing Director of Private Equity Kenneth Shimberg, whose compensation reached $936,455 in fiscal year 2008, saw his compensation decrease to $834,554 for the calendar year.
Though their compensations were not reported in the previous tax filing, others of 2008's highest-compensated employees included Dean of Medicine and Biological Sciences Edward Wing at $569,207, Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P'07 at $477,602 and Vice President for Research Clyde Briant at $392,814.
