U of A president set to receive $285K in bonuses

University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella is set to receive $285,000 in bonuses from the Arizona Board of Regents for achieving individual and collective annual goals pertaining to areas including budgeting, research and athletics.

At its meeting Thursday and Friday this week, ABOR — which oversees the state’s three public universities — is scheduled to approve Garimella’s bonus of $225,000 for achieving his individual goals, and an additional bonus of $60,000 for achieving his collective goals as part of the Enterprise Executive Committee, the agenda says.

The Enterprise Executive Committee is comprised of Garimella, Arizona State University President Michael Crow, Northern Arizona University President José Luis Cruz Rivera and ABOR Executive Director Chad Sampson.

Crow is set to receive a total of $305,000 in annual bonuses for achieving his individual and collective goals, and Cruz Rivera is to receive a total of $250,000.

Garimella’s bonuses come on top of his $810,000 annual base salary. He will have been UA president for one year as of Oct. 1.

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Crow’s annual compensation is $892,500 and Cruz Rivera’s is $712,925.

The distribution of Garimella’s bonuses for his individual goals is:

• $50,000, strategic vision: Formulating UA’s future vision to better focus on student success and experience, including campus safety and compliance issues; strategic research growth in target areas; engagement with the community; and communications and marketing efforts.
• $30,000, leadership team: Submitting a report that shows the creation of “a high-quality, collaborative, mission-driven and effective leadership team” for the UA that outlines administrative and structures and clearly articulates processes for decision-making and consultation.
• $20,000, research: Working with ASU President Crow to identify the UA’s and ASU’s common strengths in research excellence to be able to work collaboratively on research proposals.
• $45,000, athletics: Establishing the UA as a dominant force in revenue-generating sports and within the Big 12 conference, and having clear tactical steps and annual benchmarks to measure progress. The key aspects include fan and alumni engagement, developing donors, holistic student-athlete academic and athletic excellence, and being a part of the Big 12 leadership.
• $40,000, new revenue streams: Creating a list of new revenue streams to support public higher education and incorporating creative revenue streams, transformative initiatives and financing models.
• $40,000, university budgeting: Bringing UA’s budget challenges under control, establishing clearer and transparent budgeting and accounting processes, continuing to address days’ worth of cash on hand, overseeing the correction of the fall 2023 financial deficit, and improving budget processes and financial administration in athletics.

The UA was faced with a financial crisis in fall 2023, as described by former President Robert Robbins, that led to an initial deficit of $240 million which was later reduced to a final $65 million. Garimella and UA’s Chief Financial Officer John Arnold delivered on the goal of eliminating the university deficit by July 1.

Garimella’s bonus for achieving the collective goals as part of the Enterprise Executive Committee is distributed as:

• $20,000 for “maximizing federal support for Arizona’s higher education:” Increasing federal support across all areas to elevate Arizona’s public universities in the federal landscape, secure increased funding, enhance their national reputation, and position institutions as key partners in addressing national challenges.
• $20,000 for collegiate athletics: Conducting a comprehensive review of each university’s athletic operations and strategies with ABOR, and developing strategies to improve the position of athletics according to each university’s needs, missions and requirement to prioritize financial sustainability and responsibility across athletics operations.
• $20,000 for Yuma collaboration: Developing a plan for all three universities — ASU, UA and NAU — to “collaborate, coordinate and streamline tri-university offerings in Yuma.”