Trustees vote to award Daniels’ at-risk pay

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue Board of Trustees on Friday (Oct. 12) reviewed the 2017-18 performance evaluation for President Mitch Daniels and voted to approve his at-risk pay at 100 percent based on measures set out by trustees in December 2017.

Continued strides in graduation rates, affordability and fundraising, plus the launch of Purdue Global and significant achievements in opening the Wilmeth Active Learning Center, the success of the State Street project, and conclusion of the transformation of Purdue Fort Wayne all contributed to the final evaluation.

Daniels’ salary, one of few in higher education using an at-risk formula, is based on performance goals in four areas: Student affordability (20 percent), Student success (25 percent), Fundraising (30 percent), and Research productivity and reputation (25 percent). Had Daniels reached the stretch goals set for him by trustees for 2017-18, he could have received 130 percent. Daniels received 88 percent, 90 percent, 96 percent and 95 percent of his at-risk pay in each of the past four years, respectively.

“We continue to see outstanding successes, even when we set increasingly higher bars,” said Trustees Chair Michael Berghoff. “It is thanks to the efforts of many that Purdue continues to exceed our expectations.”

For 2017-18, Purdue again set records in fundraising with $452 million, an increase of 61 percent since 2012, and in individual donors at more than 86,000. In addition, four- and six-year graduation rates continue to rise.

Berghoff and Tom Spurgeon, chair of the board’s Compensation Committee, said trustees this year awarded Daniels 20 percent for student affordability measures, 25 percent for student success measures, 34 percent in fundraising and 21 percent in research productivity and reputation.

In addition to his base pay of $430,000, which at his request was set lower than his predecessor’s, he will receive $210,000 of his at-risk funds.

Source: Tom Spurgeon (trustees@purdue.edu)