Two managers of Harvard University’s endowment fund raked in about $35 million each last year for overseeing investments for the school’s $19.3 billion all-purpose trove that funds everything fromstudent loans to faculty salaries.
The multimillion-dollar payouts were about double last year’s pay for the two managers, a report yesterday from Harvard Management Co. shows. The firm invests endowment funds.
Maurice Samuels, manager of the foreign fixed-income fund, was paid $35.1 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, more than double his $15.9 million take a year earlier. David Mittleton, manager of the domestic fixed-income fund, got $34.1 million, almost double last year’s $17.5 million.
Jack Meyer, chief executive of Harvard Management, a subsidiary of the university, defended the huge payouts as comparable to what other money managers with equal investment success are paid.
He noted that the four portfolios overseen by the five top-paid managers at Harvard Management had spectacular returns – one reaching 52 percent last year alone – and have netted the endowmment $2.5 billion in gains over the past five years.
Bonuses are tied to fund performance against benchmark goals agreed upon by endowment directors, Meyer stressed.
“They had a terrific year,” said Meyer, who himself was paid $6.9 million last fiscal year, up from $5.8 million the year prior.
The overall endowment had a 12.5 percent return last fiscal year – topping nearly all other college endowments, by some estimates.
But huge payouts in recent years have drawn criticism at Harvard, the most recent from alumni.
Alex Thomson, a financial executive recruiter with Russell Reynolds Associates, said the latest figures are huge indeed.
“By any measure, those numbers are high in the investment management business,” he said. “But, conversely, Jack and his team have delivered results over the year, so I have a hard time arguing with” the compensation levels.
