Committee OKs Contract Extension For Daniels

Trustees also approved the metrics that will be used to review Daniels' performance for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

The Purdue University Board of Trustees Compensation Committee has approved a two-year extension for the contract of President Mitch Daniels. If approved Friday morning by the full board, Daniels’ new deal would run through the middle of 2020.

Daniels is on a contract that offers performance-based incentives, which are also subject to final approval by the board. His base salary under the current deal is $420,000 and previous incentives have boosted that by around 25 percent. The contract stipulates Daniels cannot receive a bonus exceeding 30 percent of his annual contract. Under new terms that will be voted on by the full board Friday morning, Daniels "at-risk" pay, as the school calls it, could increase to as high as 50 percent on top of Daniels’ base pay.

The committee’s approval calls for Daniels to receive 90 percent of the bonus compensation this year, which Purdue confirms would make his total compensation for fiscal 2014-15 $533,400. That total, which much still receive full board approval, includes $113,400 in "at-risk" compensation.

The bonuses are based on goals such as graduation rate, student debt and affordability metrics, faculty and university awards and fundraising. For example, Compensation Committee Chair Tom Spurgeon says the board will vote on giving Daniels a 40 percent share of the 30 percent of incentives available for fundraising performance for Purdue "far exceeding" its goals under the administration. Purdue raised a record of $343.4 million during the fiscal year.