Norton Healthcare CEO salary and executive pay
Norton Healthcare paid its CEO, Russell F Cox, $4,115,838 for the fiscal year ending December 2024. That is up $630,193 (18.1%) from the fiscal year ending December 2023. Total revenue on that return was $759,365,626, up 25.1% from $607,102,092 for the fiscal year ending December 2023. Norton Healthcare ranks 84th of 229 hospital systems on this site by CEO pay. Norton Healthcare has 3 Form 990 returns on record, for fiscal years ending 2022 to 2024.
Last updated from IRS e-file data. EIN 61-1028725, Louisville, KY.
CEO, fiscal year ending December 2024
$4,115,838
- Revenue on this return
- $759,365,626
- This is the system's parent filer; the system's largest single return is filed by Norton Hospitals (EIN 61-0703799), with $3,371,281,873 in revenue on its latest return.
Source: Form 990, fiscal year ending December 2024, IRS object ID 202543109349302839.View the filing
Revenue is Part I, line 12. Pay as a share of revenue and the peer comparison are not shown for a parent filer.
Highest-paid people on the latest return
On the latest return, 25 people were paid more than $500,000, 10 of them more than $1 million.
| Name and title | Total |
|---|---|
| Russell F Cox CEO President & CEO/Trustee | $4,115,838 |
| Michael W GoughExec VP and COO (partial year) | $3,217,019 |
| Steven Hester MDSenior VP & Chief Clinical and Strategy Office | $1,949,641 |
| Adam KempfSr VP & CFAO | $1,659,943 |
| Robert B AzarSr VP Chief Legal Officer/Secretary | $1,302,529 |
Also paid on the latest return: Steve Ready (Sr VP & CIO), $1,296,774; Charlotte Ipsan (Senior VP & Chief Hospital Officer), $1,229,934; Douglas Winkelhake (Sys VP Norton Neurology Institute tho), $1,113,309; Scott Watkins (Senior VP & Chief Integration and Performance Officer), $1,031,960; James Frazier MD (Sys VP & Chief Medical Office), $1,016,837; Kimberly Tharp-Barrie (Sr VP, CNO), $950,515; Steven Heilman MD (Sys VP & Chief Medical Information Officer), $945,375; Mary Lynn Meyer (Sr VP WCCP/ CDO), $920,295; John Hammond (Senior VP & Chief Human Resources Officer), $868,027; Renee Murphy (Sr VP, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer), $826,830; Shelley Gast (Senior VP & Chief Revenue Officer), $737,795; Jim Meyers (Sys VP, Revenue Cycle), $731,299; Andrew McCarthy (Sys VP, Facilities Management), $697,671; Mark Kircher (Division VP, Finance), $642,094; Stephen Wyatt MD (Chief Research Executive), $631,986; and 23 more.
Also listed in Part VII of the latest return, with no pay reported: Donald H Robinson (Trustee).
CEO pay by year
Each row is the CEO on that year's return.
| Fiscal year ending | Name and title | Total | Revenue | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2024 | Russell F Cox CEO President & CEO/Trustee | $4,115,838 | $759,365,626 | Filing |
| Dec 2023 | Russell F Cox CEO President & CEO/Trustee | $3,485,645 | $607,102,092 | Filing |
| Dec 2022 | Russell F Cox CEO President & CEO/Trustee | $4,959,205 | $569,215,201 | Filing |
How this pay was reported
The parts of each total, as reported on the return for the fiscal year ending December 2024.
Source: Form 990, fiscal year ending December 2024, IRS object ID 202543109349302839.View the filing
| Part VII | Schedule J | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name and title | From org | Other | Base | Bonus | Other | Deferred | Nontaxable | Total |
| Russell F CoxPresident & CEO/Trustee | $3,633,654 | $482,184 | $1,857,038 | $953,295 | $823,321 | $449,244 | $32,940 | $4,115,838 |
| Michael W GoughExec VP and COO (partial year) | $3,200,723 | $16,296 | $719,698 | $554,516 | $1,926,509 | $0 | $16,296 | $3,217,019 |
| Steven Hester MDSenior VP & Chief Clinical and Strategy Office | $1,641,761 | $307,880 | $1,049,339 | $444,885 | $147,537 | $276,350 | $31,530 | $1,949,641 |
| Adam KempfSr VP & CFAO | $1,418,297 | $241,646 | $925,300 | $363,283 | $129,714 | $212,195 | $29,451 | $1,659,943 |
| Robert B AzarSr VP Chief Legal Officer/Secretary | $1,125,537 | $176,992 | $692,567 | $303,986 | $128,984 | $162,205 | $14,787 | $1,302,529 |
These figures come from Norton Healthcare'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 Norton Healthcare compares
Ranked 84th of 229 hospital systems by CEO pay.
- Previous in this ranking: 83rd, University of Tennessee Medical Center, $4,119,053
- Next in this ranking: 85th, Allina Health, $4,092,093
Closest in revenue among the hospital systems on this site:
Johns Hopkins Health System$2,922,528 (CEO), fiscal year ending Jun 2025
UMass Memorial Health$4,141,845 (CEO), fiscal year ending Sep 2025
Carle Foundation$2,348,482 (CEO), fiscal year ending Dec 2024
CentraCare$1,969,529 (CEO), fiscal year ending Jun 2025
Virtua Health$3,320,959 (CEO), fiscal year ending Dec 2024
Common questions
Russell F Cox (President & CEO/Trustee) was paid $4,115,838 for the fiscal year ending December 2024: $3,633,654 from Norton Healthcare and $482,184 in other compensation (Part VII columns D and F).
The CEO, Russell F Cox, was the highest-paid person on the latest return, at $4,115,838.
Norton Healthcare paid its CEO, Russell F Cox, $4,115,838 for the fiscal year ending December 2024. That is up $630,193 (18.1%) from the fiscal year ending December 2023. The earliest return on record is for the fiscal year ending December 2022, when the CEO was Russell F Cox, paid $4,959,205. By fiscal year end: December 2022, $4,959,205 (Russell F Cox); December 2023, $3,485,645; December 2024, $4,115,838.
Norton Healthcare's return for the fiscal year ending December 2024 reports total expenses of $734,469,947 and total revenue of $759,365,626 (Part I, lines 18 and 12), so revenue exceeded expenses by $24,895,679. Expenses were $580,119,586 for the fiscal year ending December 2023, so they rose 26.6%. The CEO's pay of $4,115,838 equals 0.56% of expenses, our calculation.
From the 3 Form 990 returns Norton Healthcare filed with the IRS for fiscal years ending 2022 to 2024. The latest full-year return was filed on November 6, 2025. Schedule J of the fiscal year ending December 2024 return breaks down pay for all 5 people in the pay breakdown above.