In 2020, the highest-paid public college presidents were:
1. David Rudd, University of Memphis, $724,498.
2. Donde Plowman, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, $620,700.
3. Brian E. Noland, East Tennessee State University, $463,216.
4. Sidney A. McPhee, Middle Tennessee State University, $443,515.
5. Steven Angle, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, $376,427.
6. Philip Oldham, Tennessee Technological University, $366,225.
7. Randy Boyd, University of Tennessee system, $22,621 (partial year).
In 2019, the most recent year for which financial reports have been released, the highest paid private college presidents in Tennessee were:
1. Nicholas S. Zeppos, Vanderbilt University, $3,173,543.
2. Robert Fisher, Belmont University, $1,167,946.
3. Randy R. Lowry III, Lipscomb University $667,771.
4. John M. McCardell, The University of the South in Sewanee, $624,141.
5. Eugene C. Hess, Lincoln Memorial University, $423,512.
Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy