Meehan, UMass agree to 5-year contract
Martin Meehan
University of Massachusetts Lowell Chancellor Martin Meehan has agreed to a five-year contract to lead the UMass system as its next president with an annual base salary that escalates from $525,000 starting in July to $602,500 in the final year.
Meehan, the former Democratic Congressman from Lowell, was selected by the university trustees earlier this month to succeed Robert Caret, who is leaving to take over the University of Maryland system.
"I am pleased to have completed this step and to now be able to focus fully on the important business ahead. This is my dream job and I am excited to get started," Meehan said in a statement.
The contract would entitle Meehan to annual performance bonuses not to exceed 11 percent of his annual salary, as well as a supplemental retirement annuity equal to 18 percent of his base pay each year.
UMass Board of Trustees Chairman Victor Woolridge, in a letter to the board outlining the deal, called it a "fair, competitive" contract in line with what other peer institutions are paying their leaders while still "fiscally responsible and in the best interests of the UMass system."
"As we prepare for our moment of presidential transition, I believe it is clear that the University of Massachusetts will be seeing in Marty Meehan a leader whose experience, passion and record of achievement makes him an outstanding choice and whose skills and attributes will serve us extraordinarily well in the years ahead," Woolridge said.
Meehan's base salary in fiscal 2015 will equal what Caret was supposed to be paid under the five-year deal he signed last fall. But while Caret's pay was due to climb $25,000 a year, Meehan's salary will increase at a slightly slower rate. Caret was due to be paid $600,000 for the final year of his deal starting July 1, 2018, but Meehan will earn $582,077 in that year, his fourth.
Under the terms of the deal, Meehan's performance will be evaluated annually based on goals and objectives set for himself and by the board chair, including but not limited to improving diversity among the student body and staff, increasing the number of donors to UMass and meeting fundraising goals, improving graduation rates and offering more three-year degree programs, supporting partnerships with community colleges, improving the national standing of the university's professional degree programs and working with the board and the state to develop a stable funding model.
The university has also agreed to lease a vehicle for Meehan "suitable for his role as president," or provide a car allowance of $12,500 per year, and to give the Andover resident a $60,000-a-year housing stipend that cannot be counted as compensation toward a retirement pension.
Should Meehan decided to leave UMass before his contract expires, the incoming president would be required to pay back a portion of his salary starting at $125,000 if he leaves before the first year is up and decreasing to $50,000 if he were to leave for another job in the last year of the contract.
Meehan has said he made a commitment to stay at UMass long-term.
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