Is Valley Children’s $5.1 million CEO pay too high for a nonprofit? See the comparisons
The CEO of the nonprofit Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County was compensated more during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022, than all but two of the head executives at the nation’s larger children’s hospitals, according to The Fresno Bee’s review of nonprofit federal tax filings.
Valley Children’s treats patients from across a 45,000-square-mile region, and more than 70% of those children are recipients of Medi-Cal, the state insurance program for low-income people. Valley Children’s is the 16th largest children’s hospital in the nation, according to Becker’s Hospital Review, which ranks them based on bed counts.
CEO Todd Suntrapak was compensated more than children’s hospital CEOs in several major American cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and more. His total compensation was $5.17 million for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022, which included a base salary, bonus and perks. Here’s what the tax filing shows:
- Base compensation: $1.68 million
- Bonus and incentive compensation: $1.59 million
- “Other reportable compensation”: $1.8 million
- Retirement and other deferred compensation: $27,540
- Non-taxable benefits: $38,122
- Total: $5.17 million
1) Texas Children’s Hospital - Houston
- Size Ranking: 1
- CEO: Mark Wallace
- Total Compensation: $8,847,132
2) Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Size Ranking: 4
- CEO: Madeline Bell
- Total Compensation: $7,671,953
3) Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County
- Size Ranking: 16
- CEO: Todd Suntrapak
- Total Compensation: $5,173,430
4) Riley Hospital for Children - Indianapolis
- Size Ranking: 8
- CEO: Dennis Murphy (Indiana University Health)
- Total Compensation: $4,982,844
5) Boston Children’s Hospital
- Size Ranking: 7
- CEO: Kevin Churchwell
- Total Compensation: $2,858,280
6) Cook Children’s Medical Center - Ft. Worth
- Size Ranking: 10
- CEO: Rick Merrill
- Total Compensation: $2,663,388
7) Children’s Hospital Colorado - Aurora
- Size Ranking: 6
- CEO: Jena Hausmann
- Total Compensation: $2,537,734
8) Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford - Palo Alto
- Size Ranking: 13
- CEO: Paul King
- Total Compensation: $2,461,531
9) Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
- Size Rank: 15
- CEO: Thomas Shanley
- Total Compensation: $2,234,530
10) Children’s Medical Center - Dallas
- Size Rank: 14
- CEO: Peter Perialas (president of Children’s Health Clinical Operations)
- Total Compensation: $2,185,693
11) Children’s Minnesota Hospital - Minneapolis
- Size Rank: 12
- CEO: Marc Gorelick
- Total Compensation: $1,978,002
12) Nationwide Children’s Hospital - Columbus, Ohio
- Size Rank: 3
- CEO: Richard Miller (Chief Operating Officer)
- Total Compensation: $1,807,629
13) Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
- Size Rank: 11
- CEO: Paul Viviano
- Total Compensation: $1,736,899
14) Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
- Size Rank: 2
- CEO: Steve Davis
- Total Compensation: $1,726,807
15) Rady Children’s Hospital - San Diego
- Size Rank: 5
- CEO: Patrick Frias
- Total Compensation: $1,713,578
16) St. Louis Children’s Hospital
- Size Rank: 9
- CEO: Trish Lollo
- Total Compensation: $891,352
The Bee requested an interview with Suntrapak to ask about his compensation and that of the other executives listed on the tax form. The Bee also wants to ask about the more than $37 million in loans granted to executives by the hospital.
Among those loans is a $5 million home loan that the hospital awarded Suntrapak. A deed shows he bought a $6.5 million home in the city of Carmel in 2022, but a search of Monterey County records does not show there is a lien on the home associated with Valley Children’s.
Hospital spokesperson Zara Arboleda told The Bee on Thursday that Suntrapak will not be providing interviews at this time. Vintage Foster, CEO of AMF Media, a public relations firm that spoke for Valley Children’s last week, did not respond to The Bee’s emails requesting an interview.
The hospital is widely recognized in Fresno – a city where more than 20% of people live in poverty – for its quality care and fundraising efforts. One of those is called Kids Day, when volunteers sell newspapers on the street to raise money for the hospital. The Fresno Bee has been a sponsor for Kids Day.
Fresno City Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Garry Bredefeld on Wednesday blasted the hospital’s executive pay as excessive for an institution that treats so many children from low income families. They called on the California Attorney General and the State Assembly Joint Committee on Legislative Audit to investigate the hospital’s finances.
Suntrapak’s compensation more than doubled in recent years
The CEO’s total compensation was close to $2.1 million during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2020. The following year, his compensation increased $3.4 million, or 163%, to $5.5 million. His total compensation of $5.17 million for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022, is a 147% increase from what it was two years before that.
Suntrapak’s base pay has also seen large increases.
Valley Children’s tax filing shows he received a 12% base pay increase from the previous year. But that raise had followed an increase of 24.7% the year before that.
His base pay increased a total of 39.6%, from $1.2 million to almost $1.7 million, between the fiscal years ending Sept. 30, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2022.
This story was originally published March 25, 2024 at 1:11 PM.
