Executive Compensation at Northwell Health (2019)

Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider with 23 hospitals and 750 outpatient facilities with more than 74,000 employees across the network (which includes many organizations).

The focus of this post is on the executive compensation of Northwell Healthcare, Inc. (NHI), a non-profit, tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) that provides advisory and administrative support services to the affiliated healthcare organizations that comprise Northwell Health.  This means the primary source of income for NHI is the revenue the affiliated organizations give, which amounted to $1.5 billion in 2019 (out of a total $1.6 billion).

Expenses for NHI totaled $1.5 billion (not including $144 million in depreciation)n with the largest expenses reported to be compensation($737 million), office-related expenses ($393 million), fees for services ($265 million), and interest ($85 million).

Based in Westbury, New York, NHI reports having 6,881 employees who were compensated $738 million in 2019, which equates to an average compensation of nearly $108,000.

1,944 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 23 most highly compensated employees reported (from the Form 990 submitted to the IRS for 2019) to be:

• $4,024,730:  Michael J Dowling, President and CEO
• $2,950,145:  Mark Solazzo, EVP and COO
• $1,804,698:  Howard Gold, EVP and Chief Managed Care Officer
• $1,611,724:  Lawrence Smith, EVP and Physician in Chief
• $1,500,418:  Jason Naidich, SVP, Regional Executive Director
• $1,487,693:  David Battinelli, SVP, Chief Medical Officer
• $1,381,689:  Eugene Tangney, SVP and Chief Admin Officer
• $1,314,610:  Jeffrey Kraut, EVP, Strategy and Analytics
• $1,256,734:  Richard Miller, EVP and Chief Business Strategy Officer
• $1,248,058:  Joseph Moscola, SVP, Chief People Officer
• $1,230,645:  Alessandro Bellucci, Executive Director
• $1,187,659:  Michele Cusack, SVP and CFO
• $1,187,371:  Winifred Mack, SVP, Health System Ops
• $1,102,422:  Donna Drummond, SVP and Chief Expense Officer*
• $1,087,690:  Laurence Kraemer, SVP and Chief General Counsel and Asst Secretary
• $1,004,548:  Ralph Nappi, EVC*
• $  989,502:  Kathleen Gallo, EVP and Chief Learning Officer
• $  950,000:  Chantal Weinhold, Former SVP and Sr Exec Coach (severance)
• $  803,399:  Mark Gloade, SVP, Deputy General Counsel and Asst Secretary
• $  657,351:  Robert Shapiro, Former SVP and CFO (primarily severance)
• $  559,375:  Anthony Ferreri, Former EVP and Chief Affiliation Officer (severance)
• $  523,863:  Dennis Connors, Former SVP, Regional Executive Director (primarily severance)
• $  423,084:  Harry Gindi, Assistant Secretary

A “*” indicates all or a portion of compensation came from an affiliate organization.

18 of the 23 (78%) of the most highly compensated employees are male with 5 (22%) are female. 9 of the 10 most highly compensated employees are male.

The 23 employees listed above received $30 million in compensation, which equates to an average compensation of $1.3 million.

The most highly compensated employees were Michael J Dowling, the President and CEO who received $19 million in compensation over the past 5 years; and Mark Solazzo who received more than $14 million over the past 5 years:

Michael J Dowling

• 2019:  $4,024,730
• 2018:  $3,579,554
• 2017:  $4,096,767
• 2016:  $4,077,452
• 2015:  $3,274,357

Mark Solazzo

• 2019:  $2,950,145
• 2018:  $2,554,328
• 2017:  $3,255,827
• 2016:  $2,998,266
• 2015:  $2,752,944

It is also important to address loans from the organization, as detailed on the Form 990, Schedule L, Part II, all approved by the board or committee:

• Michael Dowling received a loan for $96.3 million for “split $ life;” current balance due is $82.5 million.
• Mark Solazzo received a loan for $36.5 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $28.3 million.
• Jeffrey Kraut received a loan for $30.8 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $23.9 million.
• David Battinelli received a loan for $19.3 million for “split 4 life;”  current balance due is $13.8 million.
• Laurence Kraemer received a loan for $17 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $12.7 million.
• Eugene Tangney received a loan for $15 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $10.7 million.
• Richard Miller received a loan for $13.2 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $9.4 million.
• Jason Naidich received a loan for $13.2 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $9.4 million.
• Michele Cusack received a loan for $8.3 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $5.9 million.
• Donna Drummond received a loan for $9.8 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $7 million.
• Joseph Moscola received a loan for $6.1 million for “split 4 life;” current balance due is $4.4 million.

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