President Tom Rochon received a 12.2 percent increase in salary in 2011, according to the latest Internal Revenue Service 990 form released by Ithaca College.
The college must submit a 990 form to the IRS every year, because it is a nonprofit educational organization. The 990 form lists the total compensation of the college’s highest-paid officials, divided into five categories: base compensation, which is salary; bonus and incentive compensation; retirement and other deferred compensation; other reportable compensation, such as external or additional retirement plans; and nontaxable benefits, such as a house or tuition remission. The 990 form also includes the college’s endowment. Each year’s form is due Oct. 15 of the following year, but the college usually defers submitting it until the next April, which was the case this year.
In calendar year 2011, Rochon received a salary of $338,336, as part of a total compensation package of $557,053. His salary increased $36,731, or 12.2, percent from $301,605 in 2010. Rochon’s total compensation package increased $132,805, or 31.3, percent from $424,248 in 2010.
Carl Sgrecci, vice president of finance and administration, said Rochon’s base pay was a raise as a result of entering a new contract after his first three-year contract ended in 2011.
Under retirement and deferred compensation — a significant portion of his total compensation package — Rochon received $146,121 in 2011. This was an increase of $91,499 from 2010. Sgrecci said Rochon received a one-time payment of deferred compensation that he had earned over the three-year period of his first contract and had paid to him at the end of the contract period.
Faculty and staff received 3-percent general merit salary increases in fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12, and a 2.5 percent general merit increase in 2012-13, with the possibility of small additional merit increases for outstanding performance each year.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, private institution presidents’ total compensation averaged $385,909 in 2010. The average base pay was $294,489. According to the Chronicle’s 2009 data, Rochon was ranked 227 out of 463 for base pay on the list of private college presidents.
After Rochon, the second-highest paid official at the college in 2011 was Sgrecci, who made $200,516 in base compensation and $238,246 in total compensation.
The third-highest paid official was Mary Ellen Zuckerman, dean of the School of Business, who made $188,270 in base compensation and $229,766 in total compensation.
The next top paid official, ranking fourth, was Shelley Semmler, retired vice president of institutional advancement, who received $182,837 in base compensation and $218,089 in total compensation.
Fifth on the list of the college’s top-paid officials was Nancy Pringle, vice president and general counsel of legal affairs, who received $171,173 in base compensation and $226,338 in total compensation.
The college’s endowment was $203,280,583 for fiscal year 2011-12. This was a decrease from 2010-11, when the endowment was $209,450,528. Sgrecci said the decrease did not have much effect. In the 2007-08 fiscal year, the college’s endowment was reported as $237,254,934. In 2008-09, the endowment was $165,324,374. In an Ithacan article in December, Sgrecci said the college has been slow to come back from the financial crisis of 2008-09.
Rochon declined to comment on the increase Wednesday.
To access Ithaca College’s IRS 990 forms, visit http://www.ithaca.edu/businessandfinance/docs/Form990/
