Strife Erupts at U of Louisville Endowment

Trustees of the $1.1 billion University of Louisville Foundation have gone public with an internal conflict over executive staff compensation and governance practices.

Board member Steve Wilson, a Kentucky hotel and farm owner, submitted a letter on April 29 to the state Auditor of Public Accounts requesting an official audit of the university and foundation—an independently run nonprofit that manages the school’s endowment.   

“I have for some time been troubled by the lack of information that the board of trustees receives from the administration and chairman of the board,” Wilson wrote, according to a copy obtained by CIO. “Various events—too numerous to list—have led me to be concerned about fulfilling my fiduciary and statutory responsibilities as a board member.”

Wilson stated that he and his fellow trustees had not been informed of compensation deals made by the independently operated foundation with members of the university administration. 

“We are having internal discussions and are looking at the matter, but we’ve launched no examination,” a spokesperson for the auditor told CIO.

Late last year, tax filings for 2012 revealed that the nonprofit had awarded University President James Ramsey $2.4 million in deferred compensation, along with $1.8 million for the school’s outgoing provost and $1.3 million to Ramsey’s chief of staff. These payments dwarfed the administrators’ reported salaries by up to 4,000%. Provost Shirley Willinhnganz, for example, earned $45,646 in base wages from the foundation in 2012—a package that climbed to $1,925,108 when the deferred compensation was accounted for.

Following these revelations, Wilson and fellow trustee Craig Greenberg have called for the foundation to be folded into the university, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported yesterday.  

Board Chairman Robert Hughes decried Wilson and Greenberg’s actions to the newspaper, arguing that the two should have “made their case to the entire board instead of bypassing their fellow trustees, the chairman of the board, and the administration of the university.”

Wilson and the foundation’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. A university spokesperson declined to remark on the situation. 

Related Content: 2014 NACUBO-Commonfund Report on US Endowments