Between 1998 and 2000, Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. President and CEO Rich Bendis received almost $102,000 in bonuses.

No other state employee received more.

The bonuses $32,500 in 1998, $34,000 in 1999 and $35,431 in 2000 were on top of his $138,000 annual salary.

Jim Dahman, chairman of the KTEC board of directors, defended the bonuses.

“When you’re in a business like KTEC, you’re going to have to compete with the private sector for talent, and that’s what we did,” said Dahman, general manager of the Columbus (Kan.) Telephone Co.

Dahman said the bonuses were not gifts. Instead, they were tied to Bendis’ meeting performance goals built into his contract. They included increases in sales, investments and returns on investments.

Formed in 1987, KTEC is a public-private partnership that promotes technology development in the state.

Dahman said money for Bendis’ bonuses came from profits on KTEC investments.

“The bonuses didn’t come out of state funds,” he said.

Ultimately, the bonuses weren’t enough to keep Bendis in Kansas.

He left KTEC last fall to head the new Innovation Philadelphia Corp. in Pennsylvania, where he’s reportedly being paid $235,000 a year.

“That sort of proves my point,” Dahman said.

Dahman said Bendis did not meet all of the performance indicators in his contract. If he had, he would have been entitled to more.