Boston Symphony Orchestra CEO salary and executive pay
Boston Symphony Orchestra paid its CEO, Chad Smith, $1,371,354 for the fiscal year ending August 2025. That is up $996,705 (266.0%) from the fiscal year ending August 2024. Total revenue on that return was $155,422,276, up 32.7% from $117,090,967 for the fiscal year ending August 2024. Boston Symphony Orchestra ranks 5th of 11 arts and culture nonprofits on this site by CEO pay. Boston Symphony Orchestra has 4 Form 990 returns on record, for fiscal years ending 2022 to 2025.
Last updated from IRS e-file data. EIN 04-2103550, Boston, MA.
CEO, fiscal year ending August 2025
$1,371,354
- Total revenue
- $155,422,276
- CEO pay vs. peers
- Higher than 82%
Source: Form 990, fiscal year ending August 2025, IRS object ID 202611959349301711.View the filing
Peers: the 207 other organizations on this site with revenue of $50 million to $500 million. Ranked 37th of 208 by top pay as a share of revenue. Pay is 0.88% of revenue, our calculation from the same return. Revenue is Part I, line 12; peers are compared on their latest full-year returns.
Highest-paid people on the latest return
On the latest return, 4 people were paid more than $500,000, 1 of them more than $1 million.
| Name and title | Total |
|---|---|
| Chad Smith CEO President & Chief Executive Officer | $1,371,354 |
| Tamara SmirnovaFirst Violin | $607,314 |
| Maureen FloresChief Development Officer | $538,658 |
| Alexander VelinzonAssociate Concertmaster | $518,232 |
| Timothy GenisTimpani | $419,187 |
Also paid on the latest return: John A Ferrillo Jr (Principal Oboe), $412,303; Thomas Rolfs Jr (Principal Trumpet), $404,809; Paul Eric Krauss (Chief Financial Officer, thru July 2025), $362,808; Katherine Decelles (Controller), $238,190; Joseph Kamay (Clerk), $100,160.
Also listed in Part VII of the latest return, with no pay reported: Noubar Afeyan (Trustee), David Altshuler (Trustee), Holly Ambler (Trustee), Ted Berk (Trustee, ex-officio), William N Booth (Trustee), Gregory E Bulger (Trustee), Ronald G Casty (Trustee), Susan Bredhoff Cohen (Trustee), Richard F Connolly Jr (Trustee), Angela Q Crispi (Trustee), William Curry MD (Trustee), Lynn A Dale (Trustee), Phillip J Edmundson (Trustee), Thomas E Faust Jr (Trustee), Todd R Golub (Trustee), Reverend Dr Ray Hammond (Trustee), Nathan Hayward III (Trustee), Ricki Tigert Helfer (Trustee), Albert A Holman III (Trustee), Barbara W Hostetter (Chair), David C Howse (Trustee), Giselle J Joffre (Trustee), Stephen W Kidder (Trustee), Tom Kuo (Trustee), Jeffrey Leiden MD PhD (Trustee), and 18 more.
CEO pay by year
Each row is the CEO on that year's return.
| Fiscal year ending | Name and title | Total | Revenue | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | Chad Smith CEO President & Chief Executive Officer | $1,371,354 | $155,422,276 | Filing |
| Aug 2024 | Chad Smith CEO President & Chief Executive Officer | $374,649 | $117,090,967 | Filing |
| Aug 2023 | Gail Samuel CEO President and CEO | $1,015,905 | $93,229,092 | Filing |
| Aug 2022 | Gail Samuel CEO President and CEO | $442,055 | $116,038,188 | Filing |
How this pay was reported
The parts of each total, as reported on the return for the fiscal year ending August 2025.
Source: Form 990, fiscal year ending August 2025, IRS object ID 202611959349301711.View the filing
| Part VII | Schedule J | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name and title | From org | Other | Base | Bonus | Other | Deferred | Nontaxable | Total |
| Chad SmithPresident & Chief Executive Officer | $1,318,099 | $53,255 | $1,097,476 | $210,000 | $10,623 | $2,588 | $50,667 | $1,371,354 |
| Tamara SmirnovaFirst Violin | $594,215 | $13,099 | $192,535 | $0 | $401,680 | $0 | $13,009 | $607,224 |
| Maureen Flores*Chief Development Officer | $518,514 | $20,144 | $194,756 | $75,000 | $248,758 | $5,525 | $14,619 | $538,658 |
| Alexander VelinzonAssociate Concertmaster | $467,278 | $50,954 | $447,478 | $19,800 | $0 | $0 | $50,954 | $518,232 |
| Timothy GenisTimpani | $419,187 | $0 | $419,187 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $419,187 |
These figures come from Boston Symphony Orchestra's Form 990 returns, as the IRS publishes them. The methodology page explains how they're chosen. To report an error, email corrections@ceopaycheck.com.
How Boston Symphony Orchestra compares
Ranked 5th of 11 arts and culture nonprofits by CEO pay.
- Previous in this ranking: 4th, American Museum of Natural History, $1,502,408
- Next in this ranking: 6th, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, $1,192,383
Closest in revenue among organizations in the same revenue band:
Community Home Health Care$1,530,005 (CEO), fiscal year ending Dec 2024
Woods System of Care$1,531,144 (CEO), fiscal year ending Jun 2025
American Diabetes Association$1,287,811 (CEO), fiscal year ending Dec 2024
Huntington Library$1,102,364 (CEO), fiscal year ending Jun 2025- Southern Poverty Law Center$530,740 (CEO), fiscal year ending Oct 2025
Common questions
Chad Smith (President & Chief Executive Officer) was paid $1,371,354 for the fiscal year ending August 2025: $1,318,099 from Boston Symphony Orchestra and $53,255 in other compensation (Part VII columns D and F).
The CEO, Chad Smith, was the highest-paid person on the latest return, at $1,371,354.
Boston Symphony Orchestra paid its CEO, Chad Smith, $1,371,354 for the fiscal year ending August 2025. That is up $996,705 (266.0%) from the fiscal year ending August 2024. The earliest return on record is for the fiscal year ending August 2022, when the CEO was Gail Samuel, paid $442,055. By fiscal year end: August 2022, $442,055 (Gail Samuel); August 2023, $1,015,905; August 2024, $374,649 (Chad Smith); August 2025, $1,371,354.
Boston Symphony Orchestra's return for the fiscal year ending August 2025 reports total expenses of $127,925,000 and total revenue of $155,422,276 (Part I, lines 18 and 12), so revenue exceeded expenses by $27,497,276. Expenses were $123,724,110 for the fiscal year ending August 2024, so they rose 3.4%. The CEO's pay of $1,371,354 equals 1.07% of expenses, our calculation.
From the 4 Form 990 returns Boston Symphony Orchestra filed with the IRS for fiscal years ending 2022 to 2025. The latest full-year return was filed on July 13, 2026. Schedule J of the fiscal year ending August 2025 return breaks down pay for all 5 people in the pay breakdown above.