Nirmal P. Narvekar is the new president and CEO of Harvard’s $35.7 billion endowment, the largest fund in higher ed.
Narvekar, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. derivatives trader, was also previously CEO of Columbia University’s $9.6 billion fund, which returned an average 10.1 percent during his leadership from 2005 to 2015. At Harvard, he is expecting to improve fund performance and reorganize staff at Harvard Management Co., which oversees the endowment.
Before Columbia, he worked in the office of investments at the University of Pennsylvania, where he focused primarily on building the hedge fund and private equity portfolios.
Other people news:
- Sam Olens has taken the reins as president of Kennesaw State University in Georgia. Formerly attorney general of Georgia since 2010, Olens says he intends to focus on restoring trust in the institution’s leadership, which has been the target of multiple investigations.
- Zulma R. Toro will be the 13th president of Central Connecticut State University when she takes office on January 3. Formerly interim chancellor at the University of Arkansas and a native of Puerto Rico, Toro has served as director of the Center for Innovation and Enterprise Engagement and as dean of the College of Engineering at Wichita State University in Kansas.
- NBA superstar LeBron James has created a dream team of educators to help at-risk students enroll at and eventually graduate from the University of Akron. The “I Promise Institute” initiative provides full tuition at Akron for students who complete the organization’s mentoring program and qualify academically. —R.B.
