Not that the previous comment had much to do with OP’s question, but I thought it deserved a response. The required vesting of a SERP that had begun in 2005 when Dr. Hatch was hired was the reason for the high salary reported that year. Here’s the salient portion of the press release from the school:
"On Dec. 10, The Chronicle of Higher Education published its annual database of executive compensation packages of private college presidents.
The Chronicle’s analysis showed that in 2015, President Nathan Hatch received just over $4 million and ranked first in total compensation. This analysis was conducted using the compensation of private college presidents who served during 2015.
The Board of Trustees’ original offer to Dr. Hatch in 2005 included a supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) – a form of deferred compensation commonly used in recruiting and retaining senior executives – that would be paid out upon completion of his 10th year as president in 2015. Each year an average of $255,000 was accrued in the SERP, and the proper amount for each year was reported on that year’s 990 return. More than $2.3 million of the vested $2.89 million SERP had been reported on the previous nine returns, but not paid. The vesting of Dr. Hatch’s deferred compensation prompted a one-year bump among peers because IRS reporting rules require that the entire vested benefit, which includes accruals reported in the tax filings from 2006-2014, plus the final accrual and any investment net earnings, be reported in the year of vesting.
Excluding the SERP-related amounts, Dr. Hatch’s compensation is comparable to the previous year. According to comparable tax data published in the analysis by The Chronicle – as well as regular benchmarks by a third-party consultant reporting to an independent committee of the Board – Dr. Hatch’s base salary of $839,944 is in line with peers at similar institutions.
The 2014 salary data published last year by The Chronicle ranked Dr. Hatch’s total compensation package 32nd among private college presidents (26th in 2013, 36th in 2012, 33rd in 2011)."