Harvard University slashed pay to its endowment chief in 2022, when the school reported its worst investment losses in six years.
N.P. “Narv” Narvekar, chief executive officer of Harvard Management Co., was awarded about $1 million in base salary and $5.2 million in bonuses, according to the school. That represented a 6.9% cut from the year before and was the lowest level of compensation since Narvekar arrived in December 2016.
The endowment reported an investment loss of 1.8% in the 12 months through June 2022, its worst performance since the comparable period ended in mid-2016 but better than the 2.3% average loss for Ivy League peers. The S&P 500 index handed investors losses of about 11% during that span, while a BlackRock ETF that follows a portfolio of 60% equities and 40% bonds lost 13%.
Harvard is the richest U.S. college with $50.7 billion under management. But its asset performance over the past decade has lagged behind rivals, especially other Ivy League colleges. Harvard’s return for the 10 years through June 2023 was 8.2%, second from the bottom of the Ivy group.
Harvard declined to say if the lower compensation was tied to performance. Narvekar’s pay in earlier years included money he was reimbursed over several years from forfeited compensation at his earlier job running Columbia University’s endowment.
“Narv and his team have made tremendous progress repositioning the endowment and HMC for long-term success,” Paul Finnegan, chair of Harvard Management’s board, said in a statement.
The endowment is the largest source of revenue for Harvard and last year contributed more than $2 billion to the budget, including student financial aid.
The endowments of Harvard and other U.S. colleges have been the target of protests demanding the universities cut their financial ties to Israel, a move aimed at pressuring the country to stop its military operation in Gaza. Harvard has rebuffed the demands.
