After nearly a year on the job, the Kansas Bioscience Authority’s top administrator would get a raise and a three-year contract to keep pushing for life-sciences advancement in the state.

Members of the authority’s executive committee voted unanimously Friday to offer Tom Thornton a three-year contract, replacing the one-year pact that is set to expire early next month. Committee members also agreed to give Thornton a $40,000 bonus for his work during the past year.

“The consensus is that the authority has confidence in Tom’s performance, and we look forward to a great year moving forward,” said Sandra Lawrence, the authority’s chairwoman.

The contract proposal stipulates that Thornton, the authority’s president and chief executive officer, would receive:

¢ a base salary of $250,000 in the first year, plus the potential for up to half of the base salary – up to $125,000 in year one – if performance goals were met. Thornton and Lawrence still would have to negotiate what those specific goals would be, and have them in place by Dec. 1.

¢ a $500,000 term life insurance policy.

¢ a qualified profit-sharing plan contribution equal to 8 percent of the first $225,000 of his base salary, or $18,000.

Lawrence said that committee members considered comparable compensation packages for executives in positions comparable to Thornton’s, and that they considered the contract offer competitive.

Thornton was traveling Friday and unavailable for comment, said Chad Bettes, a spokesman for the authority.

Members of the executive committee who approved the contract offer are Lawrence, who is executive vice president and chief financial officer for Children’s Mercy Hospitals & Clinics; Bill Sanford, chairman of Symark LLC; Ed McKechnie, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Watco Companies; and Ray Smilor, executive director of the Beyster Institute in the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.

Another member of the executive committee, former Kansas Gov. John Carlin, did not attend Friday’s meeting.

The bioscience authority, established by the state in 2004, is a 15-year initiative with an anticipated $588 million to conduct, facilitate, support, finance and perform bioscience research, development and commercialization in Kansas. Goals include creating jobs, fostering economic growth, advancing scientific knowledge and improving the quality of life for Kansans while making the state a national leader in bioscience.