TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida State University Board of Trustees on Friday unanimously increased President John Thrasher's compensation by 17.8 percent, after giving him a positive job review for his efforts leading the university.
Thrasher's base pay will increase 10 percent from $473,827 to $521,210.
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He will additionally receive $130,302 in deferred compensation and a $100,000 performance bonus, which was the maximum allowable under his contract.
With a $10,800 vehicle allowance, Thrasher's total compensation for the 2016-17 academic year will be $762,312, up from $647,304 last year.
The trustees also voted to remove the bonus cap from Thrasher's contract, meaning he could earn more or less than $100,000 in bonus payments in future years.
Thrasher's increase would make him the sixth-highest paid president among Florida's 12 university leaders based on the 2015-16 salaries, with many presidents, like Thrasher, now undergoing job reviews and pay adjustments.
University of Florida President Kent Fuchs was the top earner last year, with a compensation package of about $1.2 million.
Ed Burr, chairman of the FSU trustees, said the board was pleased with Thrasher's performance and an evaluation that showed he was exceeding expectations in nearly every category.
"It would be easy to say the grade was pretty high for the evaluation of our president," Burr said.
A former state House speaker who took over the presidency of his alma mater in November 2014, Thrasher helped FSU increase its "pre-eminence" funding from $25 million to $35 million in the new state budget.
Also under his watch, FSU rose to a rank of 38th in the U.S. News & World Report's 2017 evaluation of the top public national universities.
The ranking gain of five places was the largest among the top 50 public national universities.