Mining for gold in 'nonprofit' universities

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

Could an executive have been found who could have run Bryant University as well as its competent and charming but astronomically highly paid ($6.2 million in 2017) president, Ron Machtley, at half his compensation? Probably! But clearly Bryant’s board, composed mostly of rich people itself (who must, as the trustees, give or get lots of money for the school, or get off the board) has been besotted with this charming man. And paying the CEO, even of a “nonprofit,’’ ever more gargantuan amounts, reflects our winner-take-all (or a lot!) economy and the myth of the superman CEO.

And then there’s Bryant’s first lady, Kati Machtley, who was paid $85,581 for running the institution’s one-day Women’s Summit, which must mean it was a world-historical event!

Mr. Machtley was the nation’s highest paid college or university president in 2017, followed by John Bowen, Johnson & Wales’ now retired leader, at $5.3 million, that year. Generous place, Rhode Island, although students and low-paid adjunct professors might prefer that a few of those dollars had drifted down to them in the form of more financial aid and/or lower tuitions and higher pay.