University Times

Head men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon topped the list of Pitt’s five highest-paid non-officer employees during the 2007-08 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2008.

Dixon earned $937,600 in salary, $135,749 in employer contributions to benefits plans (a category that includes deferred compensation where applicable) and $18,339 in expense account and other allowances in FY 2008.

Rounding out the top five, who also were Pitt’s top five highest paid employees last year, were:

• Dave R. Wannstedt, head football coach — $924,332 in salary, $38,557 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $16,399 in expense account and other allowances.

• Ronald B. Herberman, professor of medicine and associate vice chancellor for cancer research, Health Sciences — $590,301 in salary and $78,910 in employer contributions to benefits plans.

• Donald S. Burke, associate vice chancellor for global health and dean of the Graduate School of Public Health — $416,601 in salary and $26,882 in employer contributions to benefits plans.

• Alan J. Russell, University Professor of Surgery and director of Pitt’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine — $394,545 in salary and $52,211 in employer contributions to benefits plans.

Compensation figures for those five employees appear on Internal Revenue Service forms to be filed this week by Pitt. Form 990 requires tax-exempt, private corporations to reveal compensation figures for their five top-earning, non-officer employees by May 15.

(UPMC, which also is required to file the federal 990 form, intends to make the information public on May 16, the day after the deadline for filing, according to a UPMC media spokesperson.)

According to IRS form 990, Pitt also paid 5,293 unspecified employees more than $50,000 last year.

In addition to the federally mandated IRS form 990, for the first time this year Pitt must file a duplicate document or its equivalent with the commonwealth by May 30, according to Arthur G. Ramicone, vice chancellor for Budget and controller. The new requirement is a result of the state’s “right-to-know” law passed in February 2008, he said.

“The only difference in the two submissions is that the state also requires total earnings figures on the University’s 25 highest-paid non-officers, instead of only the five highest-paid,” Ramicone told the University Times. “We will just send a copy of our 990 form along with the list of 25,” he said. (See list following story.)

The state law mandates that the University also post the financial information online. Pitt intends to post the information by the end of the month, Ramicone said.

Pitt’s IRS form 990 also includes required financial information on the chancellor and six other senior administrators for fiscal year 2008. In FY08, Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg earned $460,601 in salary, $72,778 in employer contributions to benefits plans, and $10,682 in expense account and other allowances as reported in this year’s form 990.

Arthur S. Levine, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine, earned $702,600 in salary, $83,707 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $10,551 in expense account and other allowances.

Jerome Cochran, executive vice chancellor, earned $388,601 in salary, $77,569 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $4,215 in expense account and other allowances.

James V. Maher, senior vice chancellor and provost, earned $348,601 in salary, $27,627 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $7,912 in expense account and other allowances.

Amy K. Marsh, treasurer and chief investment officer, earned $320,601 in salary, $49,675 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $1,275 in expense account and other allowances.

Ramicone earned $265,601 in salary, $53,281 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $11,079 in expense account and other allowances.

B. Jean Ferketish, secretary to the Board of Trustees and assistant chancellor, earned $194,101 in salary, $43,800 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $85 in expense account and other allowances.

Under a five-year deferred retention incentive plan launched by Pitt trustees in 2002, in addition to salaries and other compensation, Nordenberg, Maher, Cochran and Ramicone each year accrued deferred pay if they remained in their jobs until June 30, 2007.

Totals accrued over the five years of the plan were reported as deferred compensation in annual amounts on the 990 forms from 2002 through 2006, Ramicone said.

The deferred retention plan was converted to an annual retention incentive plan by the trustees to begin in FY08, and to be paid after July 1, 2008.

Under that plan, the chancellor was paid $81,937 ($75,000 plus interest) after the end of the fiscal year 2008, and the other three senior officers were paid $54,625 each ($50,000 plus interest).

Those latter figures will be reported on the University’s IRS filing next year, according to Ramicone. The annual retention incentive plan is continuing, he added.

“This year’s form 990 for the year ended June 30, 2008, is an anomaly in a sense in that there is no amount [of deferred compensation] to be included. In a nutshell, different plans, different rules,” he said.

The compensation committee of Pitt’s Board of Trustees announced in December 2008 that compensation for the seven senior officers would remain at the same levels for fiscal year 2009 (July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009).

(See Dec. 4, 2008, University Times.)

Additionally, Pitt reported FY08 information for trustee Emil M. Spadafore Jr., who received $4,908 in compensation and $8,628 in benefits for services as a part-time faculty member on the Pitt-Titusville campus. (Pitt trustees are not compensated for service on the board.)

Pitt also is required by the IRS to file compensation figures for the five independent contractors providing professional services that received the most money from the University, as well as the five highest-paid independent contractors providing other services during the 2007-08 fiscal year.

Pitt contracted with the following five firms for professional services:

• Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Philadelphia, legal services, $5,031,302.

• Edge Studio, Pittsburgh, architectural services, $3,232,288.

• Adage Capital Partners, Boston, investment advising, $1,045,277.

• Sanderson Asset Management Limited, London, investment advising, $922,324.

• Perkins Eastman Architects, Pittsburgh, architectural services, $921,395.

Pitt also paid 119 other unspecified contractors more than $50,000 each for professional services, according to information provided to the IRS.

Pitt contracted with the following five firms for other services:

• Sodexho, Atlanta, food services, $22,754,088.

• Turner Construction, Monroe Township, N.J., construction services, $19,168,319.

• Massaro Corp., Pittsburgh, construction services, $15,148,256.

• Scalise Industries, Lawrence, Pa., electrical/mechanical contractor services, $8,458,398.

• Tedco Construction Corp., Carnegie, construction services, $8,376,808.

In addition, Pitt paid 902 other unspecified such contractors more than $50,000 each, according to the IRS documents.

—Peter Hart

Top 25 non-officers, FY08

1. James P. Dixon II, Athletics, $937,600

2. David R. Wannstedt, Athletics, $924,332

3. Ronald B. Herberman, medicine $590,301

4. Donald S. Burke, public health, $416,601

5. Alan J. Russell, surgery, $394,545

6. David Gur, radiology, $390,411

7. Thomas W. Braun, dental medicine, $379,611

8. Massimo M. Trucco, pediatrics, $378,033

9. Steven L. Kanter, medicine, $368,100

10. Michael J. Becich, biomedical informatics, $352,538

11. Bruce A. Freeman, pharmacology & chemical biology, $330,000

12. Joseph C. Glorioso III, microbiology & molecular genetics, $323,010

13. Johnny Huard, orthopaedic surgery, $318,726

14. Zhou Wang, urology, $317,750

15. Jeffrey L. Masnick, Office of Senior VC for Health Sciences, $317,736

16. Raymond A. Frizzell, cell biology & physiology, $313,555

17. Angela M. Gronenborn, structural biology, $312,551

18. Marc Shane Malandro, Office of Technology Management, $309,725

19. John S. Lazo, pharmacology & chemical biology, $309,349

20. Mitchell Bruce Max (deceased), anesthesiology, $308,517

21. Agnus M. Berenato, Athletics, $306,254

22. Roberta J. Ness, epidemiology, $306,042

23. Savio L-Y Woo, bioengineering, $303,138

24. Yan Xu, anesthesiology, $300,223

25. Lauren B. Resnick, LRDC, $297,635