
Here’s What The 10 Highest State Employees Make In North Dakota
Working for the state of North Dakota can have its perks.
For one thing, according to North Dakota Management and Budget, all state employees and their families get free basic health insurance. As somebody who pays a significant amount of money each month for my family's health insurance, this sure sounds nice.
Next, it appears the state in general pays pretty well. If you are in healthcare or work for a University, it can be especially lucrative.
I ran across a website that shares the salary of all state employees in North Dakota called Open The Books. All salaries for state employees in North Dakota are public information.
I did notice some discrepancies when looking at the highest-paid state employees in North Dakota.
For one thing, they didn't have the University of North Dakota head hockey coach Brad Berry listed, who reportedly made $464,000 dollars in 2024. This would have Berry higher than the CEO of Bank of North Dakota Todd Steinwood who they have at #1 at $415,944.
There are a few others who were probably omitted from the list for some reason. I will share those with you in just a minute.
These are the Top 10 highest-paid employees in North Dakota, according to Open The Books for the calendar year of 2023. (2024 salaries have not been released yet)
#10 Leah Thompson-Physician $319,358
#9 Kathryn Tevington-Physician $322,047
#8 Nizar Wehbi-State Health Officer $355,470
#7 Michael Capan-Physician $361,267
#6 Rose Julius-Physician $364,187
#5 Maria Robles-Physician $364,287
#4 Lori Espirit-Physician $364,807
#3 Laura Kroetsch-Medical Director $374,477
#2 Eduardo Yabut-Physician $394,477
#1 Tod Steinwood-CEO Bank of ND $415,944
As I mentioned above, I researched some state employees who were omitted from the top 10 list. I'm not sure why.
Tim Polasek-NDSU Football Coach $333,000. (2024 salary)
Brad Berry-UND Hockey Coach $464,000 (2024 salary)
Mary Sens-UND Chair of Pathology $594,456 (2024 salary)
Joshua Wynne-UND Dean/VP Health Affair $914,213 (2024 salary)
No doubt, other state employees were missed by my source but you have a good idea what field you should go into if you want to make a lot of money. One very apparent thing, a DJ/content creator is nowhere to be found.
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