Charity Leaders Who Topped The Chronicle’s List

Arts-groups leaders, a university president, and a hospital chief are perched at the top of the pay scale among the nonprofit heads in The Chronicle‘s latest survey of chief-executive pay.

James J. Mongan, chief executive of Partners HealthCare System, in Boston, earned the top spot in The Chronicle’s survey, with compensation of $2,729,076 in 2008, a 99 percent increase over his 2007 pay. His 2008 pay included nearly $1.3-million in deferred compensation, of which $927,035 was reported to the IRS in previous years as it was earned.

Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, followed in the number two spot, with compensation of $2,111,882 in 2008, more than twice his 2007 pay of $928,818. Neither year includes a housing allowance worth $336,000 — the annual value of living rent-free in a condominium that the museum owns in MuseumTower, a high-rise complex that incorporates part of the museum.

However, the numbers for both Dr. Mongan and Mr. Lowry are skewed by complicated IRS rules for reporting deferred compensation. If one allocates deferred compensation to the year in which it was earned, Mr. Lowry made $1,347,864 in 2008 — about 12 percent more than the $1,206,128 he received in 2007.

The increase came as a result of a $200,000 bonus Mr. Lowry received for leading a five-year, $858-million campaign to expand and renovate the museum. That bonus, coupled with his regular annual bonus, netted Mr. Lowry incentive pay of $509,515 in 2008.

More Arts at the Top

Two of Mr. Lowry’s peers in the arts world also took two additional spots among the highest-paid chief executives in the survey. John E. Sexton, president of New York University, took third place, earning $1,265,110, slightly less than he earned in 2007. Mr. Sexton was followed by Steven M. Altschuler, chief executive of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia ($1,239,722); Michael M. Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington ($1,091,444) completed the top five. Mr. Lowry and Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera Association and number six on the list, earning just more than $1-million, are among the nonprofit chief executives who are taking pay cuts this year. (For information on the highest-earning leaders of foundations, see Page TK.)

— Noelle Barton, Ben Gose, and Candie Jones.