Executive Compensation at the American Chemical Society (2019)

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) 3 (not a trade association like the American Chemistry Council) with more than 150,000 members in 150 countries.  Based in Washington, DC, ACS works to advance the benefits of chemistry and they do this primarily by selling information (about 83% of revenue in 2019 came from the sale of information).

There are 15 voting members of the governing body, 14 of whom are independent. The Form 990 reports 16 members (due to timing differences, 8 of whom are male and 8 of whom are female (note: The Form 990 does not report gender; determinations were made based on name and google searches).

In 2019, total revenue was $671 million, most of which came from 4 sources:  information services ($558 million), investment income, royalties, and gains ($80 million) – from more than a billion dollars in net assets, education and membership ($17 million), and a membership insurance program ($11 million).

Expenses totaled $595 million (including $33 million in depreciation) with the three (3) largest expenses reported to be compensation ($271 million), fees for services – primarily consultants, editorial, and marketing – ($128 million), and office-related expenses ($64 million).  It is also important to note the award of grants was insignificant (only $24 million in 2019).

2,171 employees received $271 million in compensation in 2019, which equates to an average compensation of $125,000.  640 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 15 most highly compensated reported to be:

• $1,155,097:  Manuel Guzman, President CAS (a division of ACS)
• $1,114,272:  Thomas M Connelly, Jr, Chief Executive Director and Director
• $  735,764:  Brian D Crawford, President – Publications (retired 9/20/10)
• $  610,299:  Bollampalli Rao, CTI, VP of Info Tech, CAS (a division of ACS)
• $  576,834:  John R Sullivan, CIO
• $  552,090:  Flint H Lewis, Secretary and General Counsel
• $  522,610:  Craig Stephens, SVP, Sales and Marketing, CAS (a division of ACS)
• $  518,219:  Michael Dennis, VP, Legal Admin, PMO, and Innovation, CAS (a division of ACS)
• $  492,372:  Brandon Nordin, SVP, Sales, Marketing, Digital, STGY, PUBS, CAS (a division of ACS)
• $  470,206:  Timothy Wahlberg, VP, Product Management, CAS (a division of ACS)
• $  456,056:  James Milne, Acting President, Publications*
• $  413,159:  Albert Horvath, Treasurer and CFO
• $  306,814:  Brian A Bernstein, Treasurer and CFO (retired 2/28/19)

A “*” indlcates compensation was paid by a related organization.

CAS is a division of ACS that organizes published chemistry research and thus appears to be source of most of the income of ACS.

As illustrated above, the 13 most highly compensated employees received more than $7 million in compensation.  The 13 most highly compensated employees are male.

ACS paid for social club membership dues for four (4) officers and were treated as business expenses.

Jode Wesemann, spouse of Dr Wayne Jones, a Director at large, received $161,254 in compensation in 2019.

225 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation. The five (5) most highly compensated were reported to be:

• $6.5 million:  GTO, LLC, of Columbus, OH for IT contracting services
• $6.3 million:  JAICI, of Tokyo, Japan for abstracting services
• $5.7 million:  Scope E Knowledge Center, of Chennai, India for database services
• $5.5 million:  Molecular Connections PVT LTD, of Bangalore, India for abstracting services
• $4.1 million:  Atypon Systems, of Santa Clara, CA for IT contracting services

ACS raises about $700 million a year, most of which comes from the sale of information.  They spend significantly less – which has allowed the organization to accumulate $1.2 billion in net assets.  In terms of expenses, the largest expense is compensation – nearly $300 million for 2,200 employees in 2019, with 640 employees receiving more than $100,000 in compensation (the most highly compensated employee was Manuel Guzman, the President of CAS, a division of ACS) who received nearly $1.2 million in compensation.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2019), click here.