Pitt top officials to receive 4% raises

Seven senior leaders at the University of Pittsburgh will see pay increases of 4% next year, bringing their base salaries to between $271,000 and nearly $1.1 million.

The new pay levels were endorsed Tuesday morning by the Pitt Board of Trustees’ Compensation Committee and then approved by the full Board of Trustees in the afternoon.

The committee typically meets in December to set pay for university officers, including Pitt’s chancellor. However, the panel set the salary of Chancellor Joan Gabel at $950,000 over the summer. Gabel became chancellor in July, replacing former Chancellor Patrick Gallagher.

Since her arrival came after the start of the current fiscal year, she is not eligible for an increase, officials said.

Those receiving 4% raises, along with their new salaries, include:

• Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for health sciences and medical school dean, $1,084,200.
• Jeff Choudry, chief investment officer, $758,940.
• Geovette Washington, senior vice chancellor and chief legal officer, $464,030.
• Rob Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research, $459,624.
• David DeJong, senior vice chancellor for business operations, $444,522.
• Narahari Sastry, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer, $432,352.
• Paul Lawrence, treasurer, $429,027.

Gabel said her predecessor Gallagher completed a review of the officers based on their performance during the 2022-2023 fiscal year before she took the helm on July 17.

“I would, based on my observations over these last six months, like to validate that the excellence that (Gallagher) saw in the performance of the officers … is aligned with what I have seen since being here,” Gabel said. “They are extremely effective and have a tremendous work ethic.”

Pitt has almost 34,000 students on its Oakland main campus and branches at Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville. It is Western Pennsylvania’s largest university.