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Halifax Health CEO Jeff Feasel's salary increases to $586,500

Mike Finch II
mike.finch@news-jrnl.com
Jeff Feasel

The Halifax Health Board of Commissioners voted unanimously last week to give CEO Jeff Feasel a 2 percent raise, and also extended the length of his life insurance, retirement compensation and severance protection benefits.

It's the first raise for the hospital's top administrator in seven years.

Feasel, 56, will now receive annual base salary of $586,500. Should he be terminated without cause or due to new ownership of the hospital up to age 70, he's entitled to a severance package that includes three years of that salary.

In addition, the annual amount of money the hospital will put into Feasel's Supplemental Retirement Plan, known as SERP, will continue to increase until he reaches age 65. The hospital's contribution to the SERP fund in 2018 comes to $414,639. By 2027, that amount will grow to $671,340.

Finally, Feasel's life insurance policy payout is increased from $4 million to $6.5 million.

Until last week's action, both the SERP contribution and life insurance had been set to expire when Feasel turned 58. 

There was little discussion of the raise itself since Feasel, the hospital’s chief executive since 2007, has not received, and in some cases has declined to accept, a pay increase in recent years. His last performance evaluation was in 2015 when the Hay Group, a consultant, also conducted a compensation review. The Hay Group  recommended creating an annual incentive plan and providing a 20 percent increase to the CEO’s base salary “to approximate the market median.”

Feasel did not take part in the brief discussion.

“I’ve been here for a while and I know Jeff hasn’t had a base pay salary increase since 2011," said Commissioner Glenn Ritchey. "Right now, based on the Hay survey he’s at the 25th percentile of comparable positions around the country.”

That means, compared to executives in similarly situated positions, Feasel’s salary ranked in the bottom quarter.

“Based on the length of time, based on the job he’s done, based on the building and things that have gone on during his tenure and the good things that are on the horizon here I would support a raise to the base salary,” Ritchey said.

The board members unanimously agreed Feasel deserved the raise and other compensation adjustments. Board Chairman Harold Goodemote echoed Ritchey’s comments.

“I’m in agreement with you and I’ve brought this up before," Goodemote said. "Since I’ve been on the board since August 2011, Mr. Feasel has not only (not) gotten a raise but any conversation that I’ve had with him, he’s declined a raise because of a multitude of reasons.”

Halifax Health is a public hospital, and with 678 beds and about 3,400 employees it is by far the largest hospital in Volusia and Flagler counties. Federal Form 990 records for the year 2015 indicate that Feasel's base pay is not out of line with other hospital CEOs for the non-profit Florida Hospital chain in the area. For example:

• Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center CEO Ed Noseworthy made $637,640 in 2015 when he was still CEO of the chain's hospital in Orange City.

• Former Florida Hospital DeLand CEO Tim Cook received $1,019,297 during his last year at that hospital.

• Florida Hospital New Smyrna CEO Ken Mattison made $577,134 in 2015 while running Florida Hospital Flagler.

• Current Florida Hospital regional CEO David Ottati earned $580,844. Ottati is also CEO of Florida Hospital Waterman.

Florida Hospital Lindsay Cashio sent the following response regarding the chain's CEO salaries: "Executive salaries are set by the Adventist Health System Board Strategy and Compensation Committee which is comprised of Board members. The committee sets compensation levels with the advice of an independent consultant which reviews market competitive compensation for similar positions in not-for-profit organizations of similar size.  Additionally, Adventist Health System conducts an annual audit with an external group to ensure policies are being followed consistently."