On March 19, Ontario released its annual public sector salary disclosure — commonly known as the ‘Sunshine List’— detailing the names, employers, positions, and salaries of all Ontario public employees who earned wages of $100,000 and more in 2020.
The University of Toronto directly employs 4,728 entrants on the list. They are joined by 26 employees of the University of St. Michael’s College, 21 employees of Trinity College, and 42 employees of Victoria University — colleges which are federated with U of T but are incorporated separately. Additionally, one U of T-affiliated entrant has their principal employer listed as the Hospital for Sick Children.
U of T’s top earner was Daren Smith, President and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM), who earned $692,238.96 in salary. Smith’s former salary of $800,749.46 pegged him as 2019’s fifth highest-earning Ontario public employee, but higher-ranked employees across the Hospital & Boards of Public Health sector have pushed him into 19th place this year.
U of T President Meric Gertler is the university’s 18th highest-paid employee — and Ontario’s 168th overall — with a salary of $438,892.04. Gertler’s salary remains unchanged from 2019.
The top earners among the federated colleges were St. Mike’s President and Vice-Chancellor David Sylvester at $338,538.42, Trinity College Dean of Arts and Vice-Provost Michael Ratcliffe at $271,917.94, and Victoria College Bursar Raymond Desouza at $227,817.84.
Across U of T-affiliated entrants, mean salary was $160,793.02, median salary was $143,744.19, and standard deviation of the salaries was $59,146.09. These statistics remain functionally unchanged from 2019, when 4,422 U of T-affiliated employees were on the list.
