Executive Compensation at the American Diabetes Association (2018)

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) based in Arlington, Virginia.  Over the past several years, the ADA experienced a drop in revenues and a decline in the organization’s endowment but in 2018, with the replacement of the Executive Director and key staff, the trend started to reverse. By cutting staff (from 1,500 in 2013 to 1,000  in 2018) and other expenses, ADA seems to be back on track financially. However, it remains to be seen if the organization will accomplish one of their key goals in the years ahead:  to prevent and cure diabetes.

The ADA has been around for 80 years and during that time, diabetes (specifically, Type 2) has exploded in this country. Accurate records were not maintained in 1940 but estimates are that about 1 million Americans had diabetes back then. Today, that number is 30 million with an additional estimated 100 million Americans being pre-diabetic which often becomes Type 2 diabetes within 5 years.  But, the growth in diabetes is not due to population growth.

In 1940, the population of the US was about 132 million. In 2018, the population had grown to 328 million – an increase of about 250%. The growth in diabetes (from 1 million to 30 million, without even considering the pre-diabetics) was 2,900%. In other words, the disease has been growing much faster than the population which means something has changed and that something appears to be diet and weight. Unless the ADA is able to convince people to make serious lifestyle changes, Type 2 diabetes rates will not decrease.

In 2018, the ADA raised $158 million (compared to $144 million in 2017) and spent $132 million (compared to $168 million in 2017) with the unspent revenue ($26 million) allocated to the general fund (which had $59 million at year-end).  The single largest expense for ADA is compensation. 1,007 employees were compensated $52 million, which equates to an average compensation of $52,000.  99 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 21 most highly compensated employees listed below:

• $943,881:  Tracey D Brown (effective June 1, 2018), CEO
• $490,758:  William Cefaul, Chief Scientific, Medical and Mission Officer
• $297,324:  John Agos, Chief Strategic Development Officer
• $295,524:  Charlotte M Carter, CFO
• $271,892:  Eloise Scavella (effective July 23, 2018), Chief Operating and Strategy Officer
• $261,036:  Tony Chiles, CIO
• $256,218:  Linda Cann, SVP, Professional Services
• $253,034:  Paul Nalbandian, Assoc Publisher, Advertising Sales
• $217,259:  Michael Eisenstein (ended July 11, 2018), SVP Products
• $215,856:  Anthony Webster, Chief HR Officer
• $212,757:  Corey Gordon (ended Jan 31, 2018), Chief Development and Stewardship
• $206,607:  Sean McDonough, VP and General Counsel
• $203,131:  Greg Liptak, VP, Quality Improvement
• $200,038:  Andrea Bruno, VP West Territory
• $199,482:  Roy Furman, ,Medical Director, Quality Improvement
• $190,285:  Elaine Currin, VP Development
• $186,967:  Kerry Lenahan, VP Constituent Engagement
• $186,635:  Chris Boynton (ended 7/11/2018), VP Eastern Division
• $172,952:  Tricia Cedotel, VP Corporate Alliances
• $162,462:  Tory Smith, VP East Territory
• $160,345:  Martha Parry Clark (ended 5/31/2018), Interim CEO

The 21 employees listed above received $5.6 million in compensation which equates to an average compensation of $267,000. However, the compensation ranged from a low of $150,345 to a high of $943,881.

11 of the 21 (52%) most highly compensated employees are male while 10 of the 21 (48%) are female.

ADA paid for tax indemnification and gross up payments. Specifically, payments related to additional pension benefits are grossed up for individual tax reporting purposes.

ADA provided a housing allowance or a residence for personal use. Specifically, housing allowances were paid to Tracey D Brown, Martha Parry Clark, Eloise Scavella and John Agos and were grossed up for individual tax reporting purposes.

Corey Gordon, Chief Development and Stewardship Officer received a severance payment of $162,500.

Michael Eisenstein, SVP Products received a severance payment of $91,666.

Chris Boynton, VP Eastern Division received a severance payment of $70,125.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2018), click here.