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Meet Ontario's Highest Paid University Executive: U of T's asset manager!
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| Skipper |
I'm not sure how I feel about the UTAM head making $550K, the most of all Ontario university execs.
The good - U of T's endowment fund is massive and someone who could manage it would need to be given a competitive compensation. PMs on the street generally make much more than 550K.
The bad - someone who lead a fund to lose 30% - a good 10 points more than the benchmark index - was paid half a mil out of student dollars. And we all know students are the brokest of the broke.
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U of T investment manager was paid more than $550,000 last year, making him highest-paid university executive
Article Comments (7) ELIZABETH CHURCH
From Friday's Globe and Mail
April 3, 2009 at 5:25 AM EDT
EDUCATION REPORTER
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The highest paid university employee in the province is not a campus leader, but the man responsible for managing investments at the University of Toronto.
John Lyon, managing director and co-chief investment officer of University of Toronto Asset Management, was paid $557,474 in salary and benefits last year - at a time when the investments he oversaw lost a staggering $1.3-billion. His salary was revealed in this week's disclosure of compensation for Ontario public servants.
UTAM, an independent arm of the university created in 2000, said the 29.5-per-cent loss was caused by weak equity markets, hedge fund investments and a currency-hedging program, which it has since reduced.
William Moriarty, president of UTAM, took up his post partway through the year and so received less than his investment manager. Mr. Lyon's pay also tops that of U of T president David Naylor, who earned $430,048 in pay and benefits.
Colum Grove-White, president of the university's Arts & Science Students Union, said the numbers show students are being asked to carry an inequitable amount of the burden from the current financial crisis. Mr. Grove-White is currently fighting a move by U of T to impose a flat tuition fee on full-time arts and science students at its downtown campus to replace existing course fees. The move, he said, would penalize students who take less than five courses by charging them the same fee as those who take a full course load.
A spokesman for U of T said the pay levels were set before the financial crisis and reflect market value for their skills.
This week's salary numbers also show that Lorna Marsden, who left her post as president of York University in the summer of 2007, received $412,000 in salary and benefits last year. That's more than the pay packet of several current campus leaders, including Ryerson University president Sheldon Levy, who took home $391,216.
The payout to Ms. Marsden is described as "standard practice" by York University spokesman Alex Bilyk. Most presidents receive a paid sabbatical year for every term they serve as "a cushion to get back into academic life," he said.
Mamdouh Shoukri, who replaced Ms. Marsden at York and led the school through a lengthy strike, earned $484,357.
Last year, the highest paid university leaders continued to be outside Toronto. Once again, McMaster University's Peter George had the highest compensation at $533,913, followed by David Johnston at the University of Waterloo, who received $488,242.
Rick Miner, departing president of Seneca College, was the top paid leader among his peers, with $411,000. Yesterday, Seneca announced it had chosen David Agnew, former secretary of cabinet for Ontario during the early 1990s, as its next leader. Mr. Agnew will take his new post in July.
The rising pay of campus leaders has become the focus of much debate in recent years, especially after employment contracts became public last summer, revealing rich deals for some presidents when they complete their terms. Many universities, faced with budget cuts and investment losses, have responded by freezing the pay of their top administrators.
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| *~LiSa-LoO~* |
| The recently retired president of the U or W makes about $350K a year, even after retirement. There was recently a write up in the Windsor Star about the 12 highest paid people in Windsor, and a large number of them made over $200K and worked at the University. Looks like I'm changing my career path! |
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| teufel-man |
| quote: | Originally posted by Skipper
The good - U of T's endowment fund is massive and someone who could manage it would need to be given a competitive compensation. PMs on the street generally make much more than 550K.
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yeah...the reason they have to pay guys like this so much is because if they don't, the guy will just go to another company that will give them the money. So if U of T wants a top notch guy to lead their asset management dept. then they need to shell out the big bucks. |
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| Skipper |
| Yeah, for someone managing that kind of coin 550K is basically a pro bono job! But it still bugs me that he makes higher than any president of any Ontario university, and it bugs me that students (and taxpayers? I dunno how university funding works) are shelling out for someone who lost so much more than the index did. |
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| MarkT |
I understand the need to offer competitive compensation packages to attract top talent...but as Sarah said, when you badly underperform against the benchmark so, shouldn't you feel that in your pay?
lame.
look at what the douchebag CEO of GM received to walk away from a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. it's absurd. |
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| miljan |
here you go :)
http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/publications/salarydisclosure/2009/
my president
2008 $269,796.60
2007 $250,958.01
2006 $245,000.03
2005 undisclosed
2004 $200,755.89
WOOOHOOO 22% raise in two years (2004-2006) and 34% in 4 years (2004-2008) ! That is not including bonuses and... stuff. Amazing. |
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| mute79 |
| i'm not so concerned about salary figures for these posts, but what concerns me is that there isn't a branch of government that oversees public university assets (since public universities are predominantly funded through public means) |
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| basilisk |
That sucks... however, are there any stats on other university funds in the country to compare those figures with?
My (admittedly quite basic) understanding is that a lot of university funding is sort of "locked in" to certain types of investments... I get the impression from some friends in the financial industry that university asset managers don't have a lot of manoeuvring room in the market... at least that's the sort of line I was fed when I asked about this. I'd like to know more but I don't think the flat fees thing has anything to do with it, not directly anyhow. |
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| matty |
Brutal since most universities, with the exception of Western, use their investment funds to pay prof salaries.
Just had a long talk with my supervisor (Vice Pres of UWO) a week ago or so, when the provincial budget came out. Watch, soon enough Universities will be asking for bailouts |
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| El K Dee |
| nice....and tuition just goes up. |
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| Skipper |
| quote: | Originally posted by basilisk
That sucks... however, are there any stats on other university funds in the country to compare those figures with?
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Well you know it's the highest salary of the Ontario universities.
I can't imagine there are out of province AMs making much more than that. |
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| gilboman |
| quote: | Originally posted by Skipper
I'm not sure how I feel about the UTAM head making $550K, the most of all Ontario university execs.
The good - U of T's endowment fund is massive and someone who could manage it would need to be given a competitive compensation. PMs on the street generally make much more than 550K.
The bad - someone who lead a fund to lose 30% - a good 10 points more than the benchmark index - was paid half a mil out of student dollars. And we all know students are the brokest of the broke. |
Look at how much Harvard lost, its easy to look at the 30% loss and compare it with benchmark, did you also look at the good years when it was above the benchmark?
its a two way street, it had above average returns which allowed more generous student aid, hire more profs and improve buildings, and now things are bad, its worse than the benchmark as well.
You have to take the good with the bad, and it was really good when times were good. |
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