Former Temple president Jason Wingard earned about $730k in his first six months on the job, according to tax forms

Former Temple University president Jason Wingard earned more than $730,000 for the first six months of his tenure, according to 2021 tax data the university recently published on its website, as it is required by law to do.

Does that mean his annual salary for his first year, from July 2021 through June 2022, was $1.46 million? Until next year’s tax forms come out, that won’t be clear.

That’s because the amount listed from July to December may have included items such as access to a company car, a gym membership, a housing allowance — which are not itemized on the Form 990 that reports compensation for Temple’s highest-paid employees.

» READ MORE: After a tumultuous tenure, Jason Wingard has resigned as Temple University president

It’s probably safe to say, though, that his annual compensation was quite a bit more than that of his predecessor, Richard M. Englert, who had earned $791,798 for all of 2020.

Wingard, who was facing a no-confidence vote by Temple’s faculty union and had been criticized for the university’s handling of a 42-day graduate student worker strike, safety issues, and an enrollment decline, resigned in March.

The university, which serves 33,600 students, repeatedly had declined to provide Wingard’s salary to The Inquirer and said it would be disclosed only when the university was required to post its latest 990 under state law. The university posted its 990 for 2021-22, which only includes salary information for the 2021 calendar year, on its website this week.

“Per university policy, Temple does not comment on individual compensation,” the university said in a statement. “Temple publishes the compensation for its officers and 25 highest-compensated employees in compliance with Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law. … The 2022-23 Form 990, which will include the full annual salary for former President Wingard during the calendar year of 2022, will be posted in May 2024, as required by applicable law.”

By comparison, Pennsylvania State University, which also is a state-related institution, with more than 88,000 students on 24 campuses, released president Neeli Bendapudi’s compensation package when she was hired last summer.

Bendapudi, the university said then, would earn a base salary of $950,000 with $350,000 deferred compensation, under a contract that extends to 2027. Other terms included a $100,000 payment when she started and another on her one-year anniversary. She’ll also be eligible to receive a $1.25 million payment if she completes the five years of her contract.

It’s not clear what additional compensation Wingard would have been eligible for had he stayed as president. The university also has declined to answer whether Wingard received a payout when he left the job.

That, too, will eventually become clear in a 990 form — in two years.