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Mr. Cotton thanked the board for inviting him and the people who had assisted him in
preparing to speak to the board. He summarized his credentials and offered an overview ofthe
presidential compensation marketplace. A salient feature is that there can be expected what he
tenned a tsunami of retirement because half of all sitting presidents today are over the age of 63.
Likewise, their staff of vice presidents are often Baby Boomers as well who are likely to retire
and are not looking to move into a presidency. As the field of experienced presidential
candidates narrows, competition will become more fierce to employ exactly the right person as
UK’s next president. Having infonnation about presidential compensation packages can give
our board an edge in making the right offer and ultimately, in hiring the right candidate.
He offered full disclosure that he has represented people on both sides ofthe equation,
presidential candidates and universities seeking new presidents.
He dealt with topics ofthe contract, data he had compiled for the university, what length
of time to expect to retain a president, base salary, other incentives, payment levels of other
universities of UK’s caliber, how to relate total compensation to years of service, how often
compensation should be renegotiated, and other topics.
Mr. Cotton invited questions and received many. Questions involved which universities
we should compare ourselves to in tenns of compensation, the importance of getting the price
right, how to deal with the fact that faculty and staff have not had a raise for several years, what
UK should look out for as the search process goes forward, specifics about negotiations in which
Mr. Cotton had participated, bonuses versus base salary, how the media enter into the
compensation package equation, comparison of nonprofits versus for-profits and their
negotiations, trustee responsibilities, presidential goals, whether a contract should contain a
penalty if a president leaves "too early” or otherwise breaks his/her contract, consideration of the
following spouse, and whether any other university has a requirement like the Top 20 mandate to
deal with.
After thanking Mr. Cotton for his time, Dr. Brockman asked if there was any other
business for the Board.
W. Adjourmnent
Hearing no suggestions for additional matters, Dr. Brockman asked for a motion to
adjoum and received it from many voices. The meeting ended at 2:28 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela T. May
Secretary, Board of Trustees
(PR 2, 3, 4, and 5; AACR l and 2; FCR l, 2, and 3; and URCR l which follow are official parts
ofthe Minutes ofthe meeting.)