Curious how much Duke’s biggest earners took home last year?
Every year, Duke is required to file 990 tax forms as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a tax-exempt status that has been afforded to the University since 1939. In addition to tracking metrics like total revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities, these forms record the annual salaries of Duke’s most highly compensated employees.
The University’s 990 form for fiscal year 2023 — which ran from July 2022 to June 2023 — is the most recent report, filed in May 2024. According to the report, a total of 14 Duke employees earned more than $1 million, with five earning more than $2 million.
Two out of Duke’s top 25 highest-paid employees saw total compensation increases of 40% or more, while six experienced percent decreases from the previous year.
Former men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has served as an ambassador to the University since his retirement in 2022, topped the list for the eighth year running at nearly $9 million.
Non-athletics administrators
Neal Triplett, president and CEO of DUMAC, Inc., was Duke’s highest-paid non-athletics employee in FY 2023, a position he’s held for nearly a decade. He made $4,295,188 in FY 2023, 77.99% of which was listed as bonus and incentive compensation. This year’s earnings represent a 44.96% increase from FY 2022, when Triplett made a total of $2.9 million.
Three administrators saw salary increases of roughly 26% — the next-largest change — from FY 2022 to FY 2023: DUMAC Investment Manager Evan Jones, DUMAC Investment Manager Justin Nixon and Jennifer Francis, Robert L. Dickens distinguished professor emeritus of business administration in the Fuqua School of Business who served as interim provost of the University in 2023.
President Vincent Price received the most base compensation of all non-athletics personnel at $1.73 million, a 12.84% increase from the previous year. He earned more than $1.81 million overall, making him Duke’s third-highest-paid non-athletics employee, though he saw a 9.9% decrease in earnings from the previous year.
There were five new additions to this year’s list: William Fulkerson, professor of medicine at the School of Medicine and former executive vice president for the DUHS; DUMAC Investment Manager Kavita Nayar; then-Vice President for Finance Rachel Satterfield, who now also serves as treasurer; Gary Bennett, then-vice provost for undergraduate education who is now dean of the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences; and then-interim Trinity College Dean Mohamed Noor. Their salaries were not reported for FY 2022, so percent change values were not calculated.
The most significant percent decrease by far — 36.23% — was seen by Valerie Ashby, who stepped down from her role as dean of Trinity College in 2022.
Notably, former Executive Vice President Tallman Trask did not make this year’s list after being among the top earners for FY 2022. Trask retired from the University from 2020, but still received over $1.6 million in benefits last fiscal year.
Other names missing from the list include Ralph Snyderman, James B. Duke distinguished professor of medicine who formerly served as chancellor for health affairs at the University and dean of the School of Medicine; Nancy Andrews, former vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University and dean of the School of Medicine who is now executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Boston Children’s Hospital; Richard Riddell, Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans distinguished professor of the practice emeritus of theater studies who formerly served as senior vice president and secretary to the Board of the Trustees; and James Roberts, former executive vice provost for finance and administration.
Athletics administrators
All four athletics personnel in last year’s top-25 list made over $1 million and ranked among the top 10 overall highest-paid employees.
Despite no longer actively coaching, Krzyzewski and former Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe topped the list of Duke’s highest-paid employees and saw some of the greatest increases in earnings in 2023.
Krzyzewski made $8.9 million, a 21.02% increase from the previous year. Around 65.86% of his earnings were reported as bonus and incentive compensation.
Cutcliffe made $4.3 million, a 44.43% increase from the previous year, just under Triplett with the second-greatest change. Nearly all his earnings — 99.22% — consisted of “other reportable compensation.”
FY 2023 also saw the inclusion of then-Duke football head coach Mike Elko and men’s basketball head coach Jon Scheyer among the ranks of the University’s highest-paid employees. Both coaches entered in advance of the 2022 athletic season — Elko’s hire was announced Dec. 10, 2021, while Scheyer’s was announced June 4, 2021.
Elko was Duke’s fourth-highest overall earner in FY 2023, taking home over $3.9 million. He also received the largest overall base salary, at $3.5 million. Scheyer came in at 10th overall, receiving over $1.7 million in total.
Missing from this year’s list is Kevin White, former vice president and director of athletics who retired in the summer of 2021 but was Duke’s eighth-highest-paid employee in FY 2022. His successor, Nina King, did not break the top 25 for FY 2023.
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Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.