SALT LAKE CITY — Dr. A. Lorris Betz, a major heavyweight on the University of Utah campus for the last 11 years, is retiring.
Betz oversaw huge growth in the U.'s health care system as senior vice president for health sciences, executive dean of the School of Medicine and CEO of University Health Care. The health sciences budget jumped from $830 million in 1999 to $1.9 billion in the last fiscal year.
He announced his retirement Tuesday at a board of trustees meeting.
"Dr. Betz has been an extraordinary asset to this university," U. President Michael K. Young said in a statement. "The university has been on a remarkable trajectory over the past several years. Thanks in some large measure to Lorris' great leadership, health sciences has been a significant part of that momentum."
Paid $806,136 in 2009, Betz was the sixth-highest-paid employee at the U., behind only the football and men's basketball coaches and three medical school faculty members. Young, in the past, has defended the salaries of top administrators, saying the employee's talent brought in healthy streams of revenue.
Betz controlled roughly 60 percent of the U.'s campus in his various duties, and it's unclear if his successor will wear all the same hats, said Chris Nelson, assistant vice president for health sciences public affairs. A national search to fill the position will include public input and could take up to a year.
— Paul Koepp