As CEO of the ANI, Ron Forman continues to be paid far more than his colleagues.

Even a cursory glance at the figures in the following chart reveals that the Audubon Nature Institute operates a fairly medium-sized facility compared to other organizations in the country that also consider themselves to be in the animal conservation field, and that ANI CEO Ron Forman pulls down a rather supersized salary package. Even excluding heavy-hitters such as the Bronx Zoo, World Wildlife Fund and National Wildlife Federation, the ANI facilities are not remarkable in terms of their total revenue, but their CEO is far and away the best paid of the lot. Only the CEO of the Bronx Zoo makes more, and that by only a few points on revenue that is approximately 7 times greater.

The following chart compares the annual revenues and CEO compensation of various zoos, nature and animal conservation organizations from around the country, whose annual revenues either roughly equal or exceed those of the ANI.

From Charity Navigator, FY/E 2002

Facility	Total Revenue		CEO Pay
Audubon Nature Institute	22,388,987		448,848
Zoo Atlanta	18,156,877		175,000
Denver Zoo	20,491,906		151,908
Toledo Zoo	21,691,369		161,397
Woodland Park Zoo	22,111,475		114,483
Fort Worth Zoo	25,199,577		150,392
Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo	25,548,903		180,641
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium	31,747,228		178,391
Philadelphia Zoo	35,734,943		272,385
Lincoln Park Zoo	38,694,537		265,981
Brookfield Zoo	47,754,588		304,023
National Wildlife Federation	102,301,495		271,428
World Wildlife Fund	105,928,516		250,000
San Diego Zoo	133,313,374		256,448
Bronx Zoo	148,647,630		527,247

Ron Forman's raises as compared to ANI revenue changes.
Ron Forman not only continues to be paid far more than his comparable colleagues, during a recent four-year span (the latest years for which we've found figures) he continues to receive substantial pay raises each year even though total ANI revenues have stayed relatively flat at an average of $22 million a year.

The following chart compares the annual revenues of the ANI over a recent four-year span as compared to Ron Forman's pay raises.

From ANI Financial Statements, IRS Form 990's, and Charity Navigator, FY/E 2002

Year	Total Revenue of the ANI		Ron Forman's CEO Pay
2002	22,388,987		448,848
2001	22,906,698		409,011
2000	21,078,203		672,157
1999	21,962,160		360,962

More fun with figures.
We've been having some fun with Microsoft Excel and come up with a few analyses of the figures. We invite you to try this at home and see what you can come up with:

Average Revenue of these 15 nature organizations	53,314,093.67
Average CEO Income	247,238.13
Average CEO pay as percentage of revenue	0.46%
ANI's CEO pay as percentage of revenue	2.00%
ANI's revenue as percentage of average	41.99
ANI's CEO pay as percentage of average	181.54

Yes, we've marveled at the ANI's executive compensation before...
From an August 2002 article:
Those who considered LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert's 72% salary increase "eye-popping" (T-P, 8/26/02, p. A-1) should probably stop reading immediately for fear of even greater physical effect, because it pales in comparison to the 86% increase given Audubon Nature Institute CEO Ron Forman in 2000. Unbeknownst to most residents of our cash-starved metropolis (except perhaps the ANI and AC insiders who presumably approved it) Ron Forman's salary increased from $360,962 in 1999 to a staggering $672,157 in 2000. Institute VP Dale Stastny also received a 73% salary increase, from $214,877 in 1999 to $371,083 in 2000.

"But Forman said his 2000 figure is misleading because the total included a large one-time payment [of $292,000] to cover 30 years of accumulated annual leave and sick leave he was entitled to but had not used." [T-P, 9-2-02]

Hmmm. Even accepting for the moment that Ron Forman didn't take vacations and sick days in 30 years, some of us can still manage simple math, so certain elements of Ron Forman's salary equation still left us confused and sceptical...

On October 10, 1995, Stewart Yerton wrote an article on Ron Forman and the Audubon Institute for the Times-Picayune entitled "Force of Nature". It was an excellent article. It also included the following paragraph regarding Ron Forman's salary: "And he [Ron Forman] earns a handsome living. In 1993, according to Audubon's tax return, Forman received a package worth $252,000. Audubon spokesman Steve Schulkens said this included a $160,000 salary and $90,000 for Forman's auto allowance, gasoline, insurance, an annuity and compensation for vacation time not taken. That doesn't count an extra $11,000 he received in contributions to an employee benefit plan and a $4,400 expense account [presumably in addition to car expenses], the tax return said." So in 1993, his $90,000 in "benefits" INCLUDED unused vacation.

Fast forward seven years to the year 2000, in which Ron Forman claims that his base salary was $260,000, plus $120,000 in benefits such as "retirement and life insurance plans" [total $380,000]. He also received $10,916 in contributions to an employee benefit plan and a $7,900 expense account. And, we've now been told, was paid $292,000 for 30 years of unused vacation time, which we're supposed to assume does NOT include the money he was already paid for that item in 1993? We're supposed to accept that the steady increases in compensation each year that got Ron Forman's "salary" from $252,000 in 1993 (that included compensation for vacation time not taken) to $311,357 in 1997, $359,899 in 1998, $361,000 in 1999, and supposedly $380,000 in 2000-- did NOT include further compensation for vacation time not taken?

Are you confused yet?

It's possible that 1993 was the only year out of the past 30 that Ron Forman received money for unused vacation time as part of his compensation of $250,000 that was reported to the IRS. But based on the figures reported in subsequent years by the Audubon Institute, he continued to receive even more substantial payments for ambiguous "benefits" as part of his regular compensation. Short of full disclosure on the part of the Audubon Institute, we have no way of determining what these payments were actually for, and whether some of it continued to be compensation for unused leave in any of these years. Common sense dictates, however, that if "payment for unused leave" becomes a regular part of someone's yearly compensation, then whatever anyone chooses to call it, and no matter how high or low the figure, you might as well just call it a salary increase.

And it doesn't take an investigative journalist to figure this out.

$672,157 makes Ron Forman one of the highest paid non-profit CEO's in the country, running an institution whose income is around $21 million. While we are fully aware that there are many people in our community who consider Ron Forman worth every penny that he is being paid, we thought a comparison of executive salaries in the non-profit sector was in order. ..

Out of the "Top 20 Compensation Packages" for non-profit CEO's cited on the American Institute of Philanthropy website (http://www.charitywatch.org), fifteen out of the twenty CEO's made under $650,000 in salary, benefits and expense accounts COMBINED.

The median salary of a male CEO of a non-profit institution with a budget between $10 million and $25 million was $135,937. The median salary for a male CEO of a non-profit institution with a budget over $50 million was still only $271,032.

Locally, for example, Tulane University President Scott Cowen is paid $373,587 to run one of the largest institutions in the region.

The salary of the CEO of the San Diego Zoo, with income of $133.5 million, was $231,633.

The salary of the CEO of the Philadelphia Zoo, with income of almost $29 million, was $199,867.

For the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, which runs not only the Bronx Zoo, but also three other zoos and an aquarium, and has income in the $125 million range, 1998 is the only year we have a comparable figure. The CEO salary was $270,400 that year, compared to Ron Forman's 1998 salary of $359,899. The following year, CEO salaries became rather a controversial issue for the WCS, which ultimately paid $1,265,497 to a succession of three CEO's in one year! Ooops.

Largely due to the Forman and Stastny pay raises alone, the "Compensation of Officers" category on the ANI's IRS Form 990 went up 34% in 2000. Conversely, the category within which most Institute employees are found, "Other salaries and wages", saw a decline of 3.5%, proving that the ANI, like its contemporary counterparts in the for-profit corporate world, know precisely where best to apply their belt-tightening sacrifices.

But then, we already knew that, from a memo dated 3/16/2001, from Dale Stastny to Ron Forman, Re New Audubon Golf Club Operations, which explained:

"Its [new golf course] operational expenses will be approximately $1m, leaving net cash flow of $350,000. Therefore expenses need to be very closely controlled since this is not a large operation.... Of particular concern in developing an operational structure is minimizing the number of highly paid employees."

During the boycott of the Zoo-To-Do a few months ago by restauranteurs protesting the ANI policy of forbidding outside caterers, spokesperson Sarah Burnette defended the ANI with the inimitable "As a non-profit, it's important for us to generate a lot of revenue."  Well, we already knew "how", now we know "why".

ANI's IRS Form 990's are available at http://www.guidestar.org