By Jerry Zhang
With the release of the 2024 Ontario Sunshine List on March 28, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) saw an increase in the number of their employees earning over $100,000 last year, according to the Ontario Government’s annual Public Sector Salary Disclosure—more commonly known as the Sunshine List.
Since 1996, the provincial government has published the Sunshine List to disclose the names, salaries and benefits of public sector workers earning over $100,000. This threshold is not adjusted for inflation. $100,000 in 2024 would be equivalent to approximately $185,017.03 in 1996, according to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculation.
In 2025, the list shows 1,935 TMU employees earning more than $100,000 in 2024, a 3.25 per cent increase from the 1,874 employees in the 2023 Sunshine List, as previously reported by The Eyeopener.
Of those employees, 520 earned over $200,000 and 24 earned over $300,000 both rising from 476 and 13 respectively from the 2023 list.
The average salary increase for all employees on the current Sunshine List was approximately $2,651, a 1.65 per cent rise from 2023.
The highest-paid employee at TMU in 2024 was President Mohamed Lachemi, earning $457,570, up 2.95 per cent from $444,475.04 in 2023.
Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano, TMU’s provost and vice president academic, was the second-highest-paid employee, earning $422,000, a 21.77 per cent increase from the previous year from $346,550.65.
The third-highest-paid TMU affiliate was Teresa Chan, the founding dean of the new School of Medicine, with a salary of $420,000.04. This marked a massive 140.11 per cent increase from $174,920.65 in 2023, reflecting her first full year in the role.
In 2023, second and third place respectively, were Anver Saloojee—a professor in the department of politics and public administration who earned $356,213.96—and Daphne Taras—professor and former dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management—who earned $333,626.31.
In 2024, Saloojee’s salary decreased to $271,691.95, placing him 70th overall on the list, while Tara’s salary dropped to $333,626.3, ranking her ninth.
TMU’s Sunshine List growth is consistent with the overall trends in the university education sector, although it remains smaller in scale than Ontario’s other institutions.
The average salary in Ontario is roughly $57,100 in 2022, according to Statistics Canada.
The University of Toronto (U of T) saw 6,872 employees on the list, a 15.6 per cent increase from 2023, according to the Sunshine List. York University reported 2,711 employees, a 17 per cent increase from 2023.
The highest-paid employees from the two schools were Alan Aspuru-Guzik, a professor of chemistry and computer science, at U of T earning $671,857.13 and Steven Hoffman, Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology and a professor of global health, law and political science from York University earning $660,467.14.
While TMU’s president remains the university’s top earner, at U of T and York University, the highest-paid individuals were professors with significant research portfolios or endowed chairs, highlighting salary disparities driven by research funding and institutional size.
Here are the top 10 earners from TMU in 2024, according to this year’s Sunshine List:
1. Mohamed Lachemi $457,570
2. Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano $422,000
3. Teresa Chan $420,000.04
4. Krishan Mehta $376,715.98
5. Saeed Zolfaghari $350,000
6. Steven Liss $348,680
7. Donna Young $348,515.65
8. Thomas Duever $334,204.69
9. Daphne Taras $333,626.31
10. Tanya De Mello $329,000.04
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