Salaries, Benefits Soar for Some at Vanderbilt

By Walter F. Roche Jr.


Salaries and benefits for some Vanderbilt University officials soared in fiscal  2014,  with increases topping out at some 70 percent.
The salaries, benefits and other expenses for the private Nashville, Tenn. school were detailed in a tax return for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 which was filed recently with the IRS.
According to the return, known as a 990, salary and benefits for Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos totaled nearly $2.3 million, up by 70 percent from the $1.3 million reported a year earlier.
A slightly higher 72 percent increase was reported for Vice Chancellor David Williams who jumped  from $1.2 million to nearly $2.1 million. Williams' wife, also a Vanderbilt employee, was paid $130,805.
According to a university spokeswoman, the Zeppos and David Williams increases were due, at least in part, to one time allotments of deferred compensation.
The returns show that Vanderbilt's former football coach James Franklin collected salary and benefits of $4 million in his last year at the school. That represented a 39 percent hike over his fiscal 2013 total. Franklin now coaches at Penn State University.
Medical School Dean Jeffrey Balser's salary and benefits total jumped 23 percent to $1.9 million, up from just under $1.6 million.
Basketball coach Kevin Stallings saw a slight reduction in salary and benefits going from $2.2 million in 2013 to $2.1 million in 2014.
Overall, according to the return, salary costs actually fell slightly from $2.27 billion in fiscal 2013 to $2.27 billion the following year.
Former Chancellor for Investments, Matthew W. Wright, left Vanderbilt early in 2013 and got a $942,000 severance payment, pushing his total to $1.12 million.  Brett Sweet, who was promoted to chief financial officer, got a 62 percent pay and benefits hike to $1.35 million to go along with his new title.
The university also reported a slight drop in revenue, dropping to $4.028 billion from $4.139 billion. Revenue from health care services totaled $2.6 billion while tuition and fees brought in $478.3 million. The university medical center reported that Medicare reimbursements for its patients fell $93.2 million short of costs.
Endowment funds totaled $4.046 billion compared to $3.635 the year before, according to the return.
Major payments to outside contractors included $44.3 million to Brasfield and Gorrie, $20.5 million to American Constructors and $12.6 million to Turner Universal Construction.
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