During the Board of Trustees meeting on September 12, the board approved amendments to President Neeli Bendapudi’s contract that included a raise in her annual compensation.

The 34-1 vote approved an increase in her base salary from $950,000 to $1.4 million annually. The new contract also approved a 3.5% automatic raise every year until 2032. Her supplemental retirement plan payments will jump from $555,000 to $650,000 annually.

Her annual retention bonus, which gets paid out in lump sums in 2027 and 2032, also goes from $300,000 to $525,000.

If Bendapudi meets “mutally approved goals” according to her term sheet, she gets a 15% bonus of her base salary.

The sum of all the increases brings her annual salary to $2.785 million, according to statecollege.com.

Following her annual performance review, the chair of the board, David Kleppinger, commented on her work balancing the university’s budget. When Bendapudi took office in 2021, the university had an operating deficit of $200 million.

“Overseeing such a vast academic, research, health, and athletics enterprise through these changes has been no easy task — particularly with all of the challenges facing higher education as a whole — but her leadership is instrumental in positioning Penn State for future success and growth,” Kleppinger said in a release.

Those interested can see the terms of her contract and the raise here.

About the Author