Sonny Perdue to make more than $500,000 a year as chancellor of University System of Georgia

ATLANTA - Former Gov. Sonny Perdue will be paid $523,900 a year when he takes the reins on April 1 as chancellor of the University System of Georgia.

System spokesperson Lance Wallace said Friday that’s the same amount that Steve Wrigley was making as chancellor before retiring last year.

The 19-member Board of Regents voted on Tuesday to hire Perdue to lead the system’s 26 universities and colleges, two weeks after naming Perdue as the sole finalist for the chancellor’s post.

Perdue was the first Republican governor of Georgia in more than a century, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011. He then served as U.S. agriculture secretary under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021.

Sonny Perdue has been named the 14th chancellor of the University System of Georgia beginning his new role on April 1, 2022. (University System of Georgia)

Despite that experience, critics have said Perdue is unqualified because he has never worked in an academic setting.

Gov. Brian Kemp supported Perdue’s appointment. Kemp’s realignment of the board may have removed opposition to naming Perdue after a stalemate that lasted more than six months after Wrigley had retired.

Perdue’s cousin, former U.S. Sen David Perdue, is challenging Kemp in the Republican primary for governor in May, but Sonny Perdue has stayed out of the race publicly.

Perdue appointed Kemp as secretary of state in early 2010, aiding Kemp’s primary bid for that office. And Trump, who is now opposing Kemp, has said Perdue talked him into endorsing Kemp in a 2018 Republican runoff for governor.