Brent Birch, who heads the Little Rock Technology Park Authority and remains the authority's lone employee since he was hired four years ago, was given a 5.7 percent raise in his annual salary Wednesday.
The authority's board of directors voted to increase his compensation to $140,000. The board also agreed to pay him up to $5,000 in a one-time bonus if Birch completes as-yet unspecified professional development training.
His salary had been $132,500. The $7,500 increase was the same as the one he received last year, board members said after their private annual review of Birch's performance, which lasted about 40 minutes.
"The board is very pleased and very appreciative of the job he has done and continues to do," board chairman John Burgess, president and co-founder of Mainstream Technologies, said after the board ended its executive session.
Another board member, retired Acxiom executive Kevin Zaffaroni, said the bonus served as an incentive for Birch to expand his professional expertise.
"The key thing is the role is changing as the facility and the business grows, and we want to make sure that we have an executive director that's growing with that," Zaffaroni said.
Business on 10/11/2018