Two Harvard Managing Directors Depart Ahead of CEO Transition

Two longtime managing directors have left Harvard Management Company in recent weeks, thinning the senior ranks of the firm that manages Harvard’s $56.9 billion endowment.

Adam Goldstein and Elaine Chan both joined HMC early in the tenure of N.P. “Narv” Narvekar, helping build the leaner operation that emerged from his sweeping overhaul of Harvard’s endowment manager. Their departures comes weeks after Narvekar told members of HMC’s board that he plans to retire as early as fall 2027, setting up the firm’s first CEO transition in nearly a decade.

Goldstein left HMC in May after more than nine years at the firm, according to his LinkedIn profile. Chan departed HMC within the last month, according to a former HMC employee. She had worked at HMC for more than eight years, after joining the firm in May 2018.

Goldstein and Chan did not respond to repeated requests for comment. HMC spokesperson Pat S. McKiernan declined to comment, citing a policy against discussing personnel matters.

Chan had been expected to work out of HMC’s new San Francisco office before deciding to leave the firm, the former employee said. HMC opened the satellite office within the last year as Harvard expands its reach into West Coast technology and venture capital investments.

The San Francisco office marked HMC’s first domestic satellite location in years. Managing directors DeRon Brown and Kelvin Poon are both located in San Francisco, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

HMC currently employs 20 managing directors and 119 total staff.

Goldstein was HMC’s highest-paid managing director in 2024, receiving nearly $3.5 million, according to the University’s tax filings. Only HMC’s top leaders earned more — Narvekar, Harvard’s highest-paid employee, received more than $6.2 million, while chief investment officer Rick Slocum and chief operating officer and chief financial officer Sanjeev Daga each received more than $4.9 million.

The next two highest-paid managing directors, John Shue and Marcus Loveland, received slightly more than $3 million.

Goldstein joined HMC in February 2017, shortly after Narvekar arrived from Columbia University’s investment arm, which he led for more than a decade. Goldstein had worked at Columbia for more than eight years before leaving in January 2017 — one month after Narvekar started as CEO of HMC.

After leaving Harvard’s endowment manager, Goldstein became chief financial officer of AI infrastructure company Quality Infratech Intelligence.

Chan joined HMC in May 2018 and worked on its generalist team, according to University tax filings. Before joining HMC, she held investment roles at the Johnson Company and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, including senior investment officer, assistant investment manager for portfolio management, and senior investment analyst in private equity, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Both Goldstein and Chan arrived at HMC when the endowment was consistently struggling to keep up with peer institutions. Within months of taking over in 2016, Narvekar launched a restructuring plan that laid off half the company’s staff and spun off multiple investment teams.

Goldstein and Chan’s departures come before Narvekar has formally stepped down, leaving his successor to inherit a senior team already beginning to change.

Under Narvekar, Harvard’s endowment grew nearly 60 percent from $35.7 billion when he first joined in 2016 to $56.9 billion in fiscal year 2025. He also sharply increased HMC’s exposure to private equity, which made up just 16 percent of the endowment’s portfolio in 2017 and more than 40 percent by fiscal year 2025.

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at mblon.50. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.

—Staff writer Graham W. Lee can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @grahamwonlee.