No. 10 – Michael Widmer
President, Massachusetts Taxpayers
Total Compensation: $431,929
Revenue: $948,594
Operating Expenses: $1,159,853
Stated Mission: To provide accurate, unbiased research with balanced recommendations that strengthen the state’s finances and economy.
Note: Data from most recently published tax-filing year.
Craig Douglas
Managing editor/online vertical products and research- Boston Business Journal
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Greater Boston’s business community is expansive and diverse, and so it’s no surprise to see that its local roster of business advocacy and lobbying groups is equally rich. Note the emphasis on rich.
According to this week’s list of the largest business advocacy and lobbying groups in Massachusetts, as compiled through BBJ surveys and federal tax filings, the CEOs at these organizations averaged $395,791 in total compensation in their most-recently reported tax-filing years. Two of them — Lynn Nicholas at the Massachusetts Hospital Association and Dan Forte at the Massachusetts Bankers Association — each collected more than $750,000 in total compensation in 2011, their last reporting year. Eight others others were above $400,000.
A handful just missed the $400,000 cut. Richard Dimino, who heads A Better City in Boston, was above the $400,000 threshold in 2011, when a one-time payout from the nonprofit’s now-terminated severance plan helped push his total compensation to $543,309. But minus that extra compensation, Dimino’s total pay package was a more pedestrian $396,514 in 2012.
Many lobbying groups spend a huge portion of their budgets on a single employee. For example, Christopher Anderson, who heads the Massachusetts High Technology Council, collected some $583,815 in total compensation in 2011, equal to 65 percent of the council’s total revenue. His was the highest pay-to-revenue ratio among the dozens of groups analyzed. Second was Michael Widmer of The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, where his $431,929 in compensation equaled 46 percent of the foundation’s 2011 revenue (Full disclosure: I once worked at the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation as a “senior policy analyst,” whatever that means).
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