ORNGE boss Chris Mazza got pay hike after telling board he had a job offer

ORNGE’s board hiked president Chris Mazza’s annual payout to $2.6 million in salary, bonus and interest-free loans after he told them a private firm was trying to “poach” him.

“To keep (Mazza) we had to pay him more,” said a source close to ORNGE’s former board of directors.

Back in 2007, Mazza’s annual salary was $298,000. That was the last year his salary was made public on the provincial sunshine list. The next year, ORNGE began creating for-profit companies and took the position that executive salaries would become secret.

Sometime in 2009, Mazza, a former emergency room doctor, told board chairman Rainer Beltzner and others that his skill and expertise had caught the attention of another company. Mazza did not identify the company and the board did not ask for proof. The Star has not been able to confirm that a company and job offer existed.

“He was being poached by a private firm, that’s what the board was told,” the source said. “His compensation had to be increased.”

Enter Luis Navas, a compensation specialist Mazza met when they both did their executive MBAs at the Richard Ivey business school in London, Ont.

Navas wore several hats at ORNGE over the years (he is now gone from the air ambulance firm). He was a board member, chair of the board’s compensation and governance committee, and eventually a paid executive (how much ORNGE will not say) working on international business in Florida.

In talks that involved Navas, a decision was made by the board to increase Mazza’s salary and bonus to $1.4 million in 2010. Also, in late 2010 and early 2011, Mazza was given an additional $1.2 million, made up of interest-free, no-term loans and a large cash advance against a future bonus. Some of that money went to purchase and renovate Mazza’s new home in Etobicoke. ORNGE has attempted to recover some of that money.

According to the recent testimony of Beltzner, the ORNGE board hired “independent external consultants to conduct an exhaustive study and provide recommendations to the board on compensation for both ORNGE executives and the board.”

Beltzner, in his testimony, did not mention Mazza’s job offer as a catalyst for increased pay.

But Beltzner did say that in late 2011, with storm clouds circling around ORNGE, he “became aware that Dr. Mazza’s professional corporation was being paid substantial amounts for services apparently not being provided. I took immediate steps to stop these payments and informed the ministry’s internal auditor.”

Beltzner was paid $200,000 a year as chairman. The person who replaced him as chair does the job as a volunteer.

Neither Beltzner nor Navas have consented to interviews with the Star.

Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Kevin Donovan