Who are the highest paid hospital employees at the major health care systems in Milwaukee?
The highest paid Milwaukee-area hospital employees include executives and doctors and range across multiple health care systems including Advocate Aurora Health — now part of the Advocate Health system — Froedtert Health, Ascension Wisconsin and more.
The largest health systems in Milwaukee are tax-exempt organizations that are required to file federal 990 forms with the IRS annually listing their highest paid employees. The Journal Sentinel analyzed the nonprofits' 2021 tax returns, the most recent year for which comparison figures were available for review. Some of the 990s are filed for a fiscal year ending in mid-2021 and not a calendar year.
The following list doesn't include individuals who were employed or received pay in 2021 and have since left. Nick Turkal, for example, left Advocate Aurora in 2019 but was paid into 2021.
In the Advocate Health system, the governing board determines the compensation of executives based upon independent, expert advice and national data on organizations of similar size and scope, said spokesperson Adam Mesirow.
At Children's Wisconsin, a committee takes into account both local and national data to determine appropriate compensation, said spokesperson Ashley Janzen.
Health care organizations vary in size across Wisconsin with different footprints across the country. Here are some of the highest paid individuals employed at Milwaukee area hospital organizations.
Jim Skogsbergh, Advocate Aurora Health Inc.
Skogsbergh was the president and Chief Executive Officer of Advocate Aurora Health and is now the co-CEO of Advocate Health, which formed when Advocate Aurora and North Carolina-based Atrium Health merged in December 2022.
He joined Advocate Health Care in 2001 as chief operating officer and was promoted to president and CEO in 2002.
He's a graduate of Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. Skogsbergh started his career in hospital administration in 1982 as an administrative resident with Memorial Health System of South Bend, Indiana.
Base: $7.13 million Related: $0 Other: $610,659
William Santulli, Advocate Aurora Health Inc.
Santulli was Chief Operating Officer of Advocate Aurora Health in 2021. He became president of the Advocate Health's Midwest region after Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health merged in 2022 to form Advocate Health.
He previously held executive roles with New England Medical Center in Boston, Iowa Health System in Des Moines, UniHealth America in Los Angeles, among others.
Base: $3.02 million Related: $0 Other: $294,721
Catherine Jacobson, Froedtert Health
Jacobson joined Froedtert Health in 2010. She became president in 2011, and in 2012, she assumed the CEO role. Before joining Froedtert Health, she spent 22 years at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Froedtert Health and ThedaCare plan to merge into a new regional health system by the end of the year.
Jacobson plans to serve as CEO of the combined health system for the first six months of 2024 before retiring from the organization. She would be succeeded by ThedaCare President and CEO Dr. Imran Andrabi as president and CEO of the combined system.
Base: $2.85 million Related: $0 Other: $406,494
Max Lee, Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin
Max Lee is a neurosurgeon at the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin systems. He's been practicing since 2008.
He went to medical school at the University of Illinois and completed his internship and residency at the University of Chicago.
Base: $2.45 million Related: $0 Other: $29,549
Jeff Bahr, Advocate Aurora Health Inc.
Jeff Bahr is the president of the medical group for the Midwest Region of Advocate Health. He joined Aurora Health Care in 2002 and previously served as vice president of primary care.
Bahr is board certified in general internal medicine and maintains a primary care practice. Before establishing his practice in 2002, he served as chief resident and instructor of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
He has a medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin and received his bachelor's degree from Marquette University.
Base: $2.33 million Related: $0 Other: $252,332
Bernie Sherry, Ascension Wisconsin (tenure ended March 2023)
Bernie Sherry was senior vice president of Ascension Health and oversaw the Wisconsin market until earlier this year when he left his position. Sherry left his position in a shakeup of leadership at Ascension in March 2023. Sherry left along with Monica Hilt, chief operating officer; Marcia Lysaght, chief nursing officer; Beth O'Laire, market chief human resources executive; and Caryn Kaufman, the director of communications.
Prior to joining Ascension Wisconsin, he served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer for Ascension Tennessee/Saint Thomas Health in Nashville.
He earned his bachelor's degree from Gannon University in Erie Pennsylvania, and his master's degree in health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.
Ascension Wisconsin cut services at some Milwaukee hospitals and struggled to keep staffing at proper levels, resulting in protests from hospital workers. An Ascension spokesperson declined to comment on the salary because Sherry no longer works for the organization.
Base: $0 Related: $2.07 million Other: $53,759
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Peggy Troy, Children's Wisconsin
Troy has served as the president and CEO of Children's since 2009 and was the first woman to head the organization. She leads a health system with more than $1.7 billion in annual revenue, hospitals in Wauwatosa and Neenah, and primary care and specialty clinics throughout southeast Wisconsin.
Under her tenure, the health care system embarked on a multi-year $385 million expansion project starting in 2018.
Troy plans to retire by the end of next year.
She started her career in Milwaukee, and worked as a nurse intern at Children's Hospital while studying nursing at Marquette University in the 1970s. After graduating, she worked at hospitals in Chicago, and led hospitals in Texas and Tennessee.
Base: $0 Related: $1.99 million Other: $57,536
Journal Sentinel reporter Sarah Volpenhein contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 7 Milwaukee area hospital employees with highest salaries
