What Didn’t Work: Tongue-Tied at the Top

Concerned that this level of compensation would cause adverse publicity, the small group of regents that negotiated Small’s employment contract did not share the details of the contract with the full board and informed the public only of Small’s base salary.

The next year, the same small group of regents increased Small’s base pay by another $150,000 and his pension payment by $25,500, bringing his total cash compensation to just under $700,000. Small justified these increases to the executive committee by saying that they would allow him to adjust the salary structure for other worthy Smithsonian employees.