Harvard’s biggest paydays in 2024 did not belong to the president or the people guarding its massive endowment. The top spots went instead to three longtime Harvard Business School professors who took voluntary retirement buyouts, briefly rocketing their reported compensation to around $1.9 million each and shaking up the university’s own rich list for the year.
What the filings show
In Harvard’s public tax return, professors Robin Ely, Nancy Koehn and Kathleen McGinn are listed among the university’s highest-paid employees, each with total compensation close to $1.9 million. Those figures include one-time lump-sum payments of roughly $1.4 million, $1.5 million and $1.6 million, respectively, according to The Boston Globe. The payments appear on Harvard’s Form 990, the annual IRS filing that nonprofits use to disclose what they pay top staff.
How the buyouts worked at HBS
Those eye-popping totals trace back to Harvard Business School’s voluntary retirement incentive plan. Under the program, eligible faculty members who agree to retire on a set date receive a lump-sum payment, which can send a single year’s compensation soaring. Harvard Magazine breaks out the exact numbers: Robin Ely at $1,904,006, Nancy Koehn at $1,928,263 and Kathleen McGinn at $1,884,004.
Where the president and former president landed
Harvard’s leadership still pulled in hefty paychecks, just not enough to beat the buyout bump. President Alan Garber reported about $1.6 million in total compensation for 2024, including a base salary near $1.4 million, while former president Claudine Gay’s 2024 total came in at roughly $1.55 million, according to The Boston Globe. Those tallies factor in the value of university-provided housing along with other benefits, as reflected in the Form 990.
Endowment managers far out-earn faculty
The real money, though, still sits on the investment side. Harvard Management Company chief executive Nirmal P. Narvekar reported roughly $6.2 million in total compensation, and senior investment officers Richard Slocum and Sanjeev Daga each reported around $5 million, according to figures compiled from public filings and summarized by Harvard Magazine. In context, Harvard’s fiscal report pegs the university’s endowment at about $56.9 billion, which helps explain why those HMC paychecks draw so much scrutiny.
Public records and transparency
All of these compensation figures come from Harvard’s publicly filed Form 990s, along with related Harvard Management Company disclosures. The documents are posted online and compiled by services such as ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer. Having those records out in the open lets reporters, researchers and anyone else with a curious browser spot one-year spikes tied to retirement payouts and compare what top faculty and executives make against the backdrop of Harvard’s enormous financial resources.
