Joan Gabel's Salary Increase
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In their December 2021 meeting, the Board of Regents approved a 35% salary increase for president Gabel.
This vote brought her salary up from $650,000 to $660,968 annually. Additionally, this comes with the added annual salary increases of anywhere from 3-5% annually until the end of her contract term. This means that by the end of her contract in 2026 she could bring in nearly $800,000 annually (not including additionally benefits and bonuses).
Additionally, this contract gives her an annual car allowance of $5,000 this year with a $10,000 allowance in following years, a $15,000 allotment for annual physical examinations, and other perks such as medical and dental care and life insurance valued at approximately $30,000 annually. This does not count her free housing at East Cliff mansion.
This contract also extended her employment agreement by two years.
One of the more controversial portions of this agreement, however, is the provision allowing for the annual performance bonus provided at the discretion of the Chair of the Board of Regents. This bonus consists of up to $50,000 in 2022 and $100,000 each following year.
Despite an objection from Regent Rosha, who submitted an amendment calling for a full Board vote on the approval of performance bonus, this continued to be the status quo. He submitted an amendment stating that it is the full board's responsibility to determine the president's compensation. As it was written, it is at the discretion of the chair based on the opinion of the performance committee (a committee appointed by the chair at the chair's sole discretion). Rosha's amendment failed in a Board vote of 8-3.
In the July 2022 Board of Regents meeting, President Gabel was granted her full $50,000 annual bonus for her performance in the 2021-22 school year.
For comparison, President Gabel made a base salary of $650,00 before her raise. Her predecessor, President Kaler, made a base salary of $625 at the peak of his employment. When comparing additional perks, under her new raise Gabel makes ~$1.1 million annually while Kaler took in ~$784k. When adjusted for inflation, Kaler would have still taken in less than one million dollars (~$920k) annually at his peak employment compensation. This does not even take into consideration Gabel's performance bonuses.
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