Expense reports for the university’s president and five vice-presidents for the entire 2023-24 fiscal year are now available on the university’s website. The presidential expenses, which constitute “travel, hospitality and other business expenses incurred in the performance of their responsibilities,” totaled $193,009.49 between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024.
Of the presidential expense reports, vice-president (research and international) Mario Pinto was reimbursed for the largest sum by the university during the recent fiscal year totaling $106,750.48 — the majority of expenses ($82,327.33) being classified as airfare and other transportation.
Pinto’s expenses included community partners and stakeholders’ meetings across Canada and in Morocco and Denmark (twice each), as well as the Philippines, Kenya and Singapore. The single largest airfare expense was to participate in the East Greenland Ice-Core Project in Denmark in July 2023 which totaled $16,973.15. Pinto also billed the university for $3,254.99 in meals — the most in that category compared to the other vice-presidents and the university’s president.
Pinto’s duties and responsibilities under The Vice President (Research and International) Procedure include “[raising] the profile of research within the immediate and larger communities” and to “solicit new funding opportunities, leverage existing funding and maximize the external resource that can be brought to the university in support of its research programs.”
Note: Presidential expenses for Catherine Cook and Angie Bruce are absent from the figure as their vice-president (Indigenous) appointment at the university did not span the entire 2023-24 fiscal year. Graphic by Milan Lukes
Michael Benarroch, the university’s president and vice-chancellor, incurred the second highest costs for the fiscal year, amounting to $37,563.13 which was most frequently categorized as community partners and stakeholders’ meetings. Other expenses included a total of $3,300 to the Manitoba Club in membership dues and $269.01 for the “purchase of AirPods to participate in private meetings in [a] public setting,” according to the report.
“The university shall pay reasonable fees and expenses for memberships by the president in clubs and associations where membership is related to the performance of the duties of the president, provided such membership fees and expenses have been pre-approved by the president’s one-over-one,” according to the Presidential Expenses Policy.
The president’s one-over-one who provides approval for presidential expenses is the chair of the board of governors, unless the expenses create a real or potential conflict of interest.
As president, Benarroch is tasked to “exercise general supervision over and direction of the operation of the university including its academic work, staff, students and business affairs,” per the President Policy.
Expenses of Diane Hiebert-Murphy, provost and vice-president (academic), largely related to professional development, with the largest expense being a five-day trip to Iceland to present a research paper at the European Conference on Domestic Violence — totaling $4,900.79.
Hiebert-Murphy’s responsibilities include “providing overall leadership for the strategic development, implementation and oversight of the university’s academic and academic administrative matters/activities” and “fostering teaching and learning excellence with a focus on innovation, support and creativity.”
During the recently concluded fiscal year, vice-president (administration) Naomi Andrew’s most frequent expenditures were classified as professional development and membership costs. Andrew, who holds a law degree from the U of M, incurred $4,955.44 in expenses for professional insurance dues to the Law Society of Manitoba. Since being appointed as the university’s vice-president (administration) in March 2021, she has billed the university for over $9,500 in professional dues and fees to the Law Society of Manitoba.
“The University of Manitoba recognizes the value of supporting professional memberships when they contribute to an employee’s ability to perform their duties effectively,” said the university in a statement. “These memberships help staff maintain industry standards, stay informed on developments within their fields and enhance the university’s operations. Decisions regarding which memberships are covered are made at the unit level, based on the relevance and benefit to the employee’s role and responsibilities.”
Andrew’s procedural responsibilities include providing “overall leadership for the strategic development, administration, implementation and oversight of the university’s short and long term administrative activities and all financial, business, property, security and investment interests of the university.”
Expenses of vice-president (external) Vanessa Koldingnes were mainly noted as donor relations meetings which included a trip to Palm Springs, Calgary and two trips each to Vancouver and Toronto.
Koldingnes’s responsibilities include “to provide overall leadership for the strategic development, implementation and oversight of the university’s short and long term external relations activities and coordinate efforts that maximize good will and financial benefits to the institution.”
The largest expense billed to the university by vice-president (Indigenous) Angie Bruce was “registration fees for grad studies (PhD) course from Nipissing in sustainable education” on Feb. 15, 2024 totaling $1,894.89. Bruce, who was appointed as the university’s vice-president (Indigenous) two weeks earlier, is described as a current PhD candidate at Nipissing University on the U of M’s website.
The remaining expenses by Bruce include attending community partners and stakeholders’ meetings and a professional development conference.
Her portfolio responsibilities include to “provide overall leadership for the strategic development, implementation and oversight of the university’s Indigenous achievement and engagement activities.”
According to the university’s Presidential Expenses Policy, the university’s president will be reimbursed by the university for legitimate business expenses. Vice-president expenses are reported in line with that policy, according to a spokesperson for the university.
“The president has a unique role within the university that includes an enhanced responsibility to develop and sustain positive and productive relationships with a variety of leaders, partners, organizations and sectors,” reads the policy. “The president has discretion to fulfil these responsibilities as necessary and appropriate to further the university’s objectives.”
The policy indicates that expenses eligible for reimbursement can include but are not limited to professional development and professional membership fees, certain hospitality expenses, employee functions and travel-related costs such as airfare, accommodations and meals.
“All presidential expenses will be disclosed in a quarterly report available to the public on the university website,” according to the policy, which also states that the university is committed to “responsible oversight and prudent stewardship of public funds.”
“The report shall include the date, nature and purpose of the expenses incurred” and “shall include all presidential expenses, regardless of the method of payment, except those paid from research funds.”
To view the complete presidential expense reports for the 2023-24 fiscal year, visit umanitoba.ca/governance/accountability-and-transparency.
