The University announced on May 28 that Paul J. Finnegan ’75, M.B.A. ’82 (above left), will succeed James F. Rothenberg ’68, M.B.A. ’70 (above right), as treasurer on July 1. The treasurer has wide responsibilities for overseeing Harvard’s finances, and signs the annual financial report with the vice president for finance. Rothenberg has used that report in recent years to send a message about changes threatening higher education’s economic model: families tapped out by rising tuition; eroding federal funding for research; and less robust endowment returns.
Rothenberg joined the Corporation in 2004, and will continue to serve on the senior governing board—presumably through 2016, when he would reach the normal term limit under the governance reforms adopted in 2010. Finnegan became a Corporation member in 2012, making this transfer seamless. For further details on the Corporation in transition, see http://harvardmagazine.com/2014/05/harvard-treasurer-transition and http://harvardmagazine.com/2014/05/harvard-corporation-leadership-transition.
