Harvard names interim endowment chief

Harvard Management Co., which invests the nation's largest university endowment, today named Harvard Business School professor Robert Kaplan as interim chief executive officer.

Kaplan, 50, a former vice president of Goldman Sachs Group in New York, will take the reins at Harvard Management on Monday on a temporary basis while the organization seeks a permanent successor to Mohamed El-Erian.

El-Erian joined Harvard Management in February 2006, replacing 15-year chief executive Jack Meyer, who left with a team of investment colleagues to start a Boston hedge fund. Then, this September, El-Erian announced he was returning to his previous company, Pimco, in Newport Beach, Calif., to be closer to family.

Kaplan will work with El-Erian until he departs in early December to ease the transition, said Harvard spokesman John Longbrake.

In a statement, James F. Rothenberg, treasurer of Harvard University and chairman of Harvard Management Co., said El-Erian had rebuilt the investment capacity of the endowment during his tenure.

"He is leaving it in a much stronger organizational position than when he arrived," Rothenberg said. "We are fortunate to have Rob Kaplan's experience, expertise, and leadership to help ensure a smooth transition and to maintain the highest level of investment management."

Harvard's endowment was valued at more than $35 billion at the end of its 2007 fiscal year.
(By Robert Weisman, Globe staff)