UCCI’s Board of Governors have received a significant pay raise, with new board chair Gilbert McLean set to earn $48,000 per year and each member $12,000 per year.
That is a massive increase from the roughly $1,000 per year board members received the last time remuneration amounts were made public by the Office of the Auditor General.
Cabinet approved the increases to the ‘stipend’ for the public university’s board during its 9 Nov. meeting, according to the Post Meeting Summary published today.
According to the summary, the new stipends are in effect 1 Sept. and are as follows:
- Chairman McLean — $4,000 per month
- Deputy Chair Jared Awe — $2,000 per month
- Members — $1,000 per month.
The University College of the Cayman Islands board members are Steve Bramwell, Ronnie Dunn, Pamela Ebanks-Small, Lindsay Japal, Leonard Lewis, Nichelle Scott, Philip Scott, and Gayle Woods.
Public or civil servants are not eligible for remuneration for service on Boards. That includes Dunn and Philip Scott, as well as ex officio members Stacy McAfee (President and CEO of UCCI) and Lucille Kong.
In January 2019, the Office of the Auditor General published a report on remuneration of key management and board members of statutory authorities and government companies for the 18-month budget period from 2016-17.
At the time, the costs for UCCI’s key management and board members were among the lowest for Cayman Islands public entities. During that 18-month period, UCCI board members were paid $100 per meeting (and $125 per meeting for the board chair). The board held 15 meetings during that 18-month period.
The board’s compensation is determined by Cabinet, and is not a decision made by UCCI administration, according to the University College Law.
The pay raise coincides with the 1 Sept. appointment of McLean as board chair.
The pay raise makes McLean one of the most well-compensated appointed public board members, on par with the chair of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (also $4,000 per month, according to the AG’s report) and the Utilities Regulatory and Competition Office, aka OfReg ($4,500 per month).
During the same 9 Nov. meeting, Cabinet decreased the remuneration for the Auditors Oversight Authority’s Board of Directors, so that the chair receives $3,000 per month, the deputy chair $2,250 per month and the directors $1,500 per month.
The Current is reaching out to UCCI and government for comment. We will update this story when we have more information.