BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
At a time when Stanford is firing employees to save money, newly released IRS documents show the university paid 18 employees $1 million or more in the previous fiscal year.
Stanford announced in July that it was laying off 363 employees this fall as part of a $140 million budget cut caused by reduced federal research funding and a higher endowment tax.
Stanford Management Company CEO Robert Wallace, who handles the university’s investments, was the highest-paid employee last year with a salary of $6.3 million, IRS forms show.
Wallace was followed by four employees who work in the university’s hospital and medical school, and Senior Managing Director of Investments Jay Kang, who made $3.4 million.
Football coach Troy Tayler made the seventh most at Stanford with a salary of $3 million, followed by Tessier-Lavigne.
Taylor went 3-9 in each of his two seasons with the Cardinal and was fired in March after an ESPN report said that he was aggressive toward female employees. Taylor sued ESPN for alleged defamation in July.
Former football coach David Shaw was the highest-paid employee at Stanford before he left, with a salary of $7.4 million.
Taylor’s salary wasn’t disclosed until Stanford provided the information to the IRS, which requires tax-exempt organizations like Stanford to submit returns to maintain their tax-exempt status.
The latest IRS returns covers the year ending on Aug. 31, 2024.
Stanford reported $9.5 billion in total revenue for the year, up from $8.5 billion the year before.
Expenses went up from $8.1 billion to $9 billion, according to the return.
Tessier-Lavigne was president at Stanford from September 2016 through August 2023. He resigned after his fellow scientists found flaws in his research on the brain.
Tessier-Lavigne still works at Stanford as the head of a laboratory and a biology professor. He made $2 million last year, making him the eighth-highest paid employee, Stanford reported.
Tessier-Lavigne’s replacement, President Jonathan Levin, made just over $1 million. Interim President Richard Saller made $825,853, Stanford reported.
| 1. | Robert Wallace | CEO, Stanford Management Co. | $6.3 million |
| 2. | Frank Hanley | Chief of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery | $5.3 million |
| 3. | Philip Pizzo | Former Dean, School of Medicine | $4 million |
| 4. | Jay Kang | Senior Managing Director of Investments | $3.4 million |
| 5. | Lloyd Minor | VP of Medical Affairs | $3.1 million |
| 6. | Yiping Woo | Professor and Chair of Cardio Surgery | $2.9 million |
| 7. | Troy Taylor | Ex-Director of Football | $3 million |
| 8. | Marc Tessier-Lavigne | Former President | $2 milliion |
| 9. | Randall Livingston | VP of Business Affairs | $1.8 million |
| 10. | Robert Reidy | VP of Land, Buildings and Real Estate | $1.8 million |
| 11. | Martin Shell | Chief External Relations Officer | $1.5 million |
| 12. | Debra Zumwalt | General Counsel | $1.4 million |
| 13. | Persis Drell | Former Provost | $1.3 million |
| 14. | Jon Denney | VP of Development | $1.3 million |
| 15. | Howard Wolf | VP of Alumni Affairs | $1.2 million |
| 16. | Jonathan Levin | President | $1.1 million |
| 17. | Megan Pierson | VP of University Affairs | $1.1 million |
| 18. | Jenny Martinez | Provost | $1 million |
| 19. | Farnaz Khadem | VP of Communications | $957,519 |
| 20. | Stephen Streiffer | VP of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory | $907,206 |
| 21. | Elizabeth Zacharias | VP of HR | $843,949 |
| 22. | Richard Saller | Interim President | $825,853 |
| 23. | Ryan Adesnik | VP of Government Affairs | $633,495 |
| 24. | Deborah Cullinan | VP of Arts | $587,572 |
| 25. | Bradley Hayward | Interim VP of Communications | $473,839 |
Absolutely out of line with today’s environment and culture
Good to know that numbers 2, 3, 5, 6 on the list don’t seem to be subject to any “fair market value” caps that get imposed on the rest of us plebeian doctors to deny raises.
If you donate to Stanford, you’ve got to be asking yourself why are they paying these people so much money? Lots of fat that they could cut without ever touching Stanford’s academic mission.
this makes you think of one of those bogus charities where 90% of the money raised goes to the founders and the beneficiaries of the charity fundraising get very little money
Check out Transparent California and see how many in the UC system are making way more than that in RETIREMENT!
It is disgusting. Senior tuition at Stanford was around $3,015 a year when I graduated.
Stanford tuition was $2100 a year when I started in 1969 plus $440 room and board each quarter.
Or $18,300 per year in today’s dollars. Still much lower than now.
(I took a class from your brother Ted when I was a student there. Very good.)
Is Stanford an “elite institution”? That list answers the question. Thank you for publishing this.
So much jealousy and envy- it’s a world class institution – so these wages make that happen! Pay peanuts get monkeys
This is how a university that has more administrators than students operates. This is also why I no longer donate to Stanford, my alma mater.
What academic mission is the cause of concern? Stanford is a publicly funded, tax-exempt research facility that also teaches as a background task. Teaching while present is not the primary mission. It might be helpful to show how much money comes from the various sources: Federal and State funding for research, Sports, tuition, others. The details will be too complex, but the 100,000-foot view might be clarifying.