Kennesaw Employs Some Of Highest Paid College Officials In GA

KENNESAW, GA — Georgia's highest-paid public-college official made over $1.2 million in 2018 — one of the five state college officials to make more than $500,000 in compensation, according to new figures from The Chronicle of Higher Education. And three more officials from Kennesaw State also made the list of the top 12 highest paid public college officials in Georgia.

The publication's data with 2018 compensation figures was updated in July and includes information on nearly 250 public university systems from 2010-18. Overall, the 2018 database has compensation information for 269 college officials in the U.S.

In Georgia, G.P. (Bud) Peterson, who is the President of the Georgia Institute of Technology, was the highest-paid public-college official in the 2018 calendar year. Peterson earned a base salary of $600,413, nontaxable benefits of $11,371 and $537,317 in "other pay," bringing his total compensation up to $1,240,232.

Other Georgia public-college officials who earned salaries exceeding $500,000 include:

• Brooks A. Keel, President of Augusta University ($841,848)
• Jere W. Morehead, President of University of Georgia ($648,699)
• Mark P. Becker, President of Georgia State University ($604,633)
• Steve Wrigley, University System of Georgia Chancellor ($516,648)

College officials who earned under $500,000 but made the top 12 of the state's highest paid are:

• Richard Carvajal, President of Valdosta State University ($395,228)
• William Kenneth Harmon, Interim President of Kennesaw State University ($377,905)
• Kyle L. Marrero, President of University of West Georgia ($360,940)
• Shelley C. Nickel, Interim President of Georgia Southern University ($335,130)
• Jaimie L. Hebert, President of Georgia Southern University ($240,012)
• Pamela Whitten, President of Kennesaw State University ($234,409) *
• Samuel S. Olens, President of Kennesaw State University ($78,352) *

*Whitten and Olens did not serve as chief executive for the full year

View the full compensation data from The Chronicle of Higher Education.