ATLANTA (AP) – Former Gov. Sonny Perdue will be paid $523,900 a year when he takes the reins on April 1 as chancellor of the University System of Georgia.
System spokesperson Lance Wallace said Friday that’s the same amount that Steve Wrigley was making as chancellor before retiring last year.
The 19-member Board of Regents voted on Tuesday to hire Perdue to lead the system’s 26 universities and colleges, two weeks after naming Perdue as the sole finalist for the chancellor’s post.
Perdue was the first Republican governor of Georgia in more than a century, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011. He then served as U.S. agriculture secretary under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021.
Despite that experience, critics have said Perdue is unqualified because he has never worked in an academic setting.