The University’s top ten highest-paid employees earn $8,275,449 in base salary pay for 2024, according to data obtained by The Cavalier Daily through a Freedom of Information Act request. This figure marks a $1 million increase compared to the salaries of the University’s top ten earners for 2023 and represents 0.7 percent of the $1.125 billion paid to 12,024 University faculty, staff members and U.Va. Heath employees listed in the data obtained by The Cavalier Daily that reflects salary levels as of January 1, 2024.
Craig Kent, chief executive officer of U.Va. Health and executive vice president for health affairs at the University, remains the highest-paid individual at the University with a salary of $1.6 million. Kent’s 2024 salary marks a $500,000 pay raise compared to last year, and he previously received a $50,000 pay raise going into 2023.
Kent earns more than University President Jim Ryan, who receives the second highest salary at the University. Ryan is receiving a salary of $912,200 in 2024, a 2 percent increase from his 2023 salary of $894,265. Ryan earns markedly more than interim Chancellor Lee Roberts of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill — a comparable school to the University — whose salary is $684,053 for this year.
UNC-Chapel Hill and the University rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 2024 U.S. News & World Report’s list of top public colleges and universities and both schools landed on Forbes’ 2024 list of “New Ivies.” Prior to Roberts, Kevin Guskiewicz served as UNC-Chapel Hill’s full-time chancellor starting in December 2019 and earned $657,743 in 2022.
The third highest earner at the University is Melina R. Kibbe — dean of the School of Medicine, Medicine professor and chief health affairs officer — earning $829,000 this year, a nearly 23 percent increase from last year’s $674,100. Kibbe is the highest earning University employee who also works as a professor.
Other top earning professors at the University also, either currently or formerly, served in administrative roles at the University. Darden Dean and professor Scott Beardsley is the seventh highest earner with a $708,100 salary, a 7 percent increase from 2023. While not in the top ten earners, Teresa Sullivan, former University president and current Sociology professor, earns the highest salary of any employee working solely as a professor. She receives a $488,200 salary, a 21 percent decrease compared to 2023. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for a sociology professor is $82,670 as of May 2023.
The fourth, fifth and sixth top earning employees at the University receive salaries over $700,000 and are all members of University administration. Ian Baucom, executive vice president and provost, earns $820,900, Jennifer “J.J.” Wagner Davis, executive vice president and chief operating officer, earns $722,925 and Vice President for Advancement Mark Matthew Luellen earns $708,467. These administrators all received 7.1 percent salary increases compared to last year.
The eighth and ninth top earners are both employees of Virginia Athletics — men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett and Director of Athletics Carla Williams. Williams receives a salary of $650,907 in 2024, a 6 percent increase compared to last year, while Bennett receives $683,450 in base salary pay, a roughly 2 percent increase from last year. However, Bennett’s total pay is much higher due to additional compensation from bonuses, meaning Bennett will receive over $4 million in 2024. Bennett is the coach with the most wins in the history of Virginia men’s basketball — including its first NCAA championship win in 2019 — and the University recently extended his contract with the University through the 2030 season.
Another Virginia Athletics member, football coach Tony Elliott, will also receive significantly more than his base salary pay. Elliott’s base salary for 2024 is $510,000, making him the 15th highest earner at the University. This base salary marks a $10,000 increase compared to 2023, however, Elliott’s contract also stipulates that he will receive over $4 million in total pay this year. This pay increase comes on the heels of two successive losing seasons for Virginia football where Elliott garnered a 6-16 record.
Missing from the list of faculty and staff salaries obtained by The Cavalier Daily is Kenyon Bonner, vice president and chief student affairs officer. While the data from the Freedom of Information Act reflects salary levels as of January 1, 2024, Bonner officially began his position January 16, meaning he is absent from the list of employees.
The Student Affairs office has seen great turnover in recent years, with Bonner taking over the position from Interim VPSA Christopher Holstege, who replaced Robyn Hadley when she left in July 2023 after only two years in the role. The role of senior associate vice president and dean of students, currently assumed by Cedric Rucker who holds the job in an interim capacity through the 2024-25 academic year, has also seen significant turnover. Rucker’s replacement will be the fourth person in the position since 2021, and Rucker is receiving a 2024 salary of $225,000.
Several universities nationwide have reported high turnover rates for administrators in recent years, including those in top positions such as president and provost. Davis referred to the challenge of recruiting and retaining talented faculty as a “war on talent” during a September 2022 Board of Visitors meeting. However, a 2023 report from Forbes also identified a dramatic increase in the number of administrative roles in higher education in recent decades — one that outpaced the increase of full time faculty roles over the past few decades — which they dubbed “administrative bloat.”
The tenth highest earner for 2024 was Risa L. Goluboff — former dean of the School of Law — who receives a salary of $639,500, a 7 percent increase from 2023. Goluboff announced her resignation in September 2023 after holding the position for eight years and her replacement, Leslie Kendrick, began her time in the role July 1. Kendrick’s salary was not included in the data obtained by The Cavalier Daily.
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