Board managers of the University Medical Center of El Paso unanimously approved an approximately 12.8% pay raise for CEO Jacob Cintron, which brings his salary up to $990,340, retroactive to Oct. 1, 2024, the start of the current fiscal year.
The merit pay is based on a compensation study of hospital CEOs and Cintron’s positive performance evaluation, according to an April 8 memo from board Chair Henry Gallardo. The board also approved that day a $49,388 bonus – about 5.6% of his previous base salary – based on senior leadership incentives.
For workers, UMC raised the minimum hiring wage from $14 to $15 in 2023.
Cintron, the former CEO of Del Sol Medical Center, has led the El Paso County Hospital District since 2016, when he started with a salary of $480,000. The district consists of UMC’s main hospital and network of clinics, the separately licensed El Paso Children’s Hospital, the district-owned health insurance agency and philanthropic foundation.
UMC is the only public, nonprofit hospital system in El Paso. Hospital leadership oversees an expense budget of $1.67 billion, with property taxes generating 9% of the hospital district’s revenue, according to a 2025 budget presentation. The number of hospital admissions, outpatient visits and surgical cases at UMC has risen in recent years and is expected to increase in the coming year.
Daniel Collins, an attorney for UMC, provided copies of Cintron’s evaluation, as well as leadership incentives used to determine his bonus. UMC met four out of 14 targets in the incentives list, which range from net revenue achieving or exceeding the budgeted revenue to increase in inpatient satisfaction. The board managers also gave Cintron a rating of 82% out of 100% on his performance evaluation.
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Cintron’s salary was also based on the most recent Gallagher hospital CEO compensation study, according to Gallardo’s memo. Cintron’s base pay is close to what the CEOs of Dallas County’s public nonprofit health system and Tarrant County’s hospital district have made recently, according to tax filings.
Upcoming UMC projects
Cintron’s evaluation comes after the executives spearheaded a successful bond campaign for the November 2024 election. El Paso voters approved the $396.6 million bond, which would help fund the expansion of the main hospital, construction of the cancer center and addition of other new health clinics throughout the county. The bond does not fund salaries.
The cancer center, initially projected for a 2026 opening, is a collaboration between the medical center and Texas Tech Health El Paso, which is leading recruitment and hiring. None of the hospital district’s bond funds can be given to the university.
Construction for the cancer center was expected to begin in early 2025, then scheduled for April, but is now delayed – most likely to this summer, Texas Tech spokesperson Patrick Espinoza told El Paso Matters.
Who are the UMC board members?
UMC has seven board managers appointed by county commissioners who review the CEO’s job duties and determine their compensation. County commissioners declined at an April 7 meeting to reappoint board chair Gallardo, a founding partner of Strategic Wealth, a financial consulting firm in El Paso.
County Commissioner Iliana Holguin said the commissioners opposed Gallardo’s appointment because Gallardo has already served three consecutive terms since 2016 and it was “good governance” to give someone else a chance. Gallardo will continue to serve on the board until the commissioners select his replacement.
The other board managers are Vice Chair Kristina Mena, dean of the UT Houston School of Public Health’s El Paso campus; Secretary Anna Perez, retired school administrator; members Miguel Fernandez, CEO of telecommunications company Flō Networks; Steve DeGroat, retired owner of Lincoln Financial Advisors’ El Paso branch; Isidro Torres, executive director of mental health nonprofit NAMI El Paso; and retired judge Linda Yee Chew.
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