UW regents boost top leaders’ salary ranges amid searches

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — University of Wisconsin System officials have dramatically increased salary ranges for top leaders, giving them more leverage as they search for the next system president and UW-Madison chancellor.

The Board of Regents on Monday unanimously approved boosting the system president’s salary range by almost 7%; the UW-Madison chancellor’s range by 21.7%; and the UW-Milwaukee chancellor’s range by 32%.

The regents also approved a 7.1% increase for other chancellors, a 5.5% increase for system vice presidents, a 5% increase for the UW-Madison provost and a 9.6% increase for the UW-Milwaukee provost.

The pay for at least two leaders, UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone and UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow, now falls below their new salary range, but the proposal passed Monday only increases salary ranges, not current salaries, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

The old salary range for a system president fell between $489,334 and $734,000. The new minimum will be $522,470 and the maximum $783,706.

The old range for the UW-Madison chancellor was $493,240 to $739,860. The new range is $600,126 to $900,190. Current Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s base salary is $606,154.

The system is currently searching for replacements for interim President Tommy Thompson and Blank, who is set to take over as president at Northwestern University next summer.

Regent Scott Beightol said the range increases look big but they’re necessary to keep pace with peer schools.