Clout can be such a wonderful thing

$2.5M in coronavirus stimulus to Navy Pier Inc., clout-heavy nonprofit run by $500K exec
Facing losses of $10 million from COVID-19 shutdown, Navy Pier Inc. says Payroll Protection Program loan will cover salaries of 147 employees, including CEO Marilyn Kelly Gardner.

By Tim Novak and Robert Herguth May 12, 2020, 3:28pm CDT

Marilyn Kelly Gardner (center) with other Navy Pier Inc. board members in 2012. Brian Jackson / Sun-Times file



Navy Pier Inc., the clout-heavy not-for-profit whose president is paid more than $540,000 a year, has received a nearly $2.5 million coronavirus stimulus loan from the federal government toward salaries and other expenses.

Facing what it says are losses of $10 million, Navy Pier Inc. says the loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection Program will cover expenses and the salaries of 147 employees, some who have been “sidelined” since the pier was shut down in March by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal loan will be used to cover all salaries, including that of Marilyn Kelly Gardner, the Navy Pier Inc. president and chief executive officer whose salary, bonus and other compensation totaled $541,051 in 2018, according to records filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

The company’s board of directors, which includes former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s daughter, spends more than $3 million a year on pay for Gardner and seven other top employees. That includes $419,204 for chief operating officer Brian Murphy, a former Chicago cop who was Daley’s deputy chief of staff, and $258,816 for vice president of operations Michael Degnan, the son of longtime Daley political adviser Timothy Degnan.

The pier’s payroll topped $15.4 million for 2018, the most recent data available.

The $2,489,500 loan “made it possible for us to resume work and payroll from some employees who had been sidelined prior to receiving the loan,” according to Navy Pier Inc. spokeswoman Payal Patel. “Unlike other similar cultural institutions sitting on public land in Chicago, the pier does not have an endowment nor does it receive any monetary support for any government entity. Ninety percent of Navy Pier’s revenue is realized through earned operating income, and the balance is generated through philanthropy.”

Navy Pier Inc. does get a big break on rent, though. It pays the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois just $1 a year to lease the pier, which is the state’s largest tourist attraction.