Executive Compensation at Liberty University (2023)

Liberty University (Liberty) – a private evangelical Christian university based in Lynchburg, Virginia – has been in the news quite a bit over the past few years.  Seems the US Department of Education has been investigating Liberty for violations related to the public reporting of campus crime.  Faced with a large fine ($14 million), Liberty seems to be in the hot seat again (the Jerry Falwell, Jr sexual misconduct saga that resulted in Falwell’s resignation as President of the university hit the public forum in 2020), although $14 million is a drop in the bucket for Liberty who has nearly $4 billion in net assets.

Key information about Liberty is summarized as follows:

• The campus has 7,000 acres with 177 buildings containing with more than 7 million square feet of space
• Approximately 16,000 students are “residential” students with about half living on campus
• More than 100,000 students take on-line classes
• Have 20 NCAA Division 1 programs with more than 500 student athletes
• More than 4,000 full and part-time faculty
• More than 350 residential programs (on campus)
• Tuition, room, board, and fees are about $48,000 annually or $192,000 for a 4-year degree

In 2023, Liberty reported total revenue of $1.6 billion, most of which came from tuition, room, board and fees ($1.5 billion).

Expenses totaled $1.3 billion in 2023 (not including $52 million in depreciation) with the largest expense reported to be compensation. 13,165 employees received $575 million in compensation, which equates to an average compensation of $44,000.

855 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 26 most highly compensated reported to be:

• $3,833,429:  Danny H Freeze Jr, Head Coach, Football
• $1,463,960:  Ritchie L McCay, Head Coach, Basketball
• $1,024,218:  Jerry Prevo, Trustee, President
• $  889,099:  Ian McCaw, Director of Athletics
• $  647,656:  Robert Ritz, CFO/Treasurer
• $  479,649:  David Corry, General Counsel/Secretary
• $  479,629:  James Chadwell, Head Coach, Football
• $  459,649:  Ronald Kennedy, EVP for Enrollment and Marketing
• $  434,588:  Scott Hicks, Provost and Chief Academic Officer
• $  430,823:  Scott Jackson, Head Coach, Baseball
• $  408,877:  Mark F Horstemeyer, Dean, School of Engineering
• $  390,674:  Shaun Akers, Online Provost
• $  344,047:  Cindy Gaebe, SVP of Finance, Chief Investment Officer
• $  326,053:  Don Moon, Former SVP of Finance and Investment Management
• $  318,659:  John Gauger, Chief Information Officer
• $  317,489:  Daniel Deter, VP of Major Construction
• $  313,386:  Glenn Clary, EVP, Strategic Partnerships
• $  304,548:  Steve Foster, EVP, HR
• $  290,808:  Craig Pettit, VP, Real Estate Management
• $  290,573:  Charles Spence, SVP, Facilities Management
• $  288,982:  Shon Muldrow, EVP, Inclusion Diversity and Equity
• $  263,482:  Daniel Applewhite, Deputy General Counsel, Assistant Secretary
• $  253,312:  Lawrence Hine, SVP of Student Affairs
• $  210,586:  Scott Spear, VP, Finance and Administration
• $  208,510:  Jonathan Falwell, Trustee, Chancellor
• $  180,546:  Matthew Cooper, VP, Student Financial Services

25 of the 26 (96%) most highly compensated employees are male while 1 of the 26 (4%) is female.  The 10 most highly compensated employees are male.

The 2 most highly compensated employees were Danny H Freeze, the head football coach who received $3.8 million and Jr,  Ritchie L McCay, the head basketball coach who received $1.5 million.  

The 5 most highly compensated employees received $22 million in compensation from 2020-2023:

Danny H Freeze, Jr.:  Total Compensation 2020-2023: $10 million

• 2023:  $3,833,429
• 2022:  $3,461,234
• 2021:  $2,071,985
• 2020: $1,138,306

Ritchie L McCay:  Total Compensation 2020-2023:  $5 million 

• 2023:  $1,463,960
• 2022:  $1,368,036
• 2021:  $1,126,219
• 2020:  $1,121,422

Jerry Prevo:  Total Compensation 2021-2023:  $2 million

• 2023:  $1,024,218
• 2022:  $1,048,277
• 2021:  $  249,924

Ian McCaw:  Total Compensation 2020-2023:  $3 million

• 2023:  $889,099
• 2022:  $867,312
• 2021:  $662,719
• 2020:  $684,209

Robert Ritz:  Total Compensation 2020-2023:  $2 million

• 2023:  $646,656
• 2022:  $470,894
• 2021:  $450,731
• 2020:  $365,474

Liberty paid for first class or charter travel, companion travel, personal services (i.e. maid, chauffeur, chef), health or social club dues or initiation fees, a residence for personal use or housing allowances, and made gross up payments or provided tax indemnifications.

The Form 990, Schedule L reports “Transactions with Interested Persons” reports the following loans made to interested persons (note receivables, real estate loans, and compensation):

371 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation with the five (5) most highly compensated reported to be:

• $36 million:  Google, of Mountain View, CA for admissions leads
• $31 million:  Sodexo Management Inc – Liberty Uni Location, of Pittsburgh, PA for food service
• $11 million:  The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co, of Baltimore, MD for construction
• $10 million:  James R Vannoy Sons Construction Co, of Winston Salem, NC for construction
• $ 9 million:  HMS Holdings, of Charlotte, NC for advertising

To read the IRS Form 990 (2022 for the year ending June 30, 2023) click here.