If husband wins, Kathleen Sandoval plans to keep charity job

If Brian Sandoval is elected governor in November, his wife Kathleen won't be quitting her job at the Children's Cabinet in Reno.

She's worked there for 11 years and said "it's definitely my passion." She's the family and youth program director and the day I called, she was busy shopping for the best deal to fill 500 backpacks for needy kids going back to school.

While being first lady will be important, she said the Children's Cabinet needs her too. It's in the midst of moving into a new building and expanding services. "My background with families and youths can be important to the state," she said.

The Sandovals have three children and she said there's flexbility in her job because it's not an 8 to 5 job where she has to clock in. She can do work at home as well, even though in this case, home might be the Governor's Mansion in Carson City.

Kathleen said her continuing to work at the Children's Cabinet was one of the conversations she had with her husband about whether he should run.

The question of her job popped up as I was researching the salaries of CEO's in nonprofits. While some big operations in Las Vegas are paying CEO's in the range of $300,000 a year including performance bonuses, that's not a typical salary in Reno.

Kathleen Sandoval is paid a base salary of $83,600 and with other benefits and an expense account, her compensation is almost $98,000. That's for an organization with a budget of $17 million.

In Reno, the salaries of CEO's aren't quite so generous as in Las Vegas. The Food Bank of Northern Nevada has a budget of more than $10 million but pays its CEO $81,120.

Meanwhile, former first lady Dawn Gibbons has a new job at a Las Vegas nonprofit. Read about it in Thursday's column.