http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/01/12/harvards_high_paid_star_investor_leaving/Jack Meyer, who produced stellar investment results for Harvard's endowment but faced criticism for the multimillion-dollar paychecks he and his money managers earned, said yesterday he and some of his employees were leaving to start a private investment firm.
In the nearly 15 years Meyer was president of Harvard Management, the university's money management arm, the endowment grew from $4.7 billion to $22.6 billion. Over the past decade only two major universities -- Yale and Duke -- earned higher returns.
"Jack was one of the greatest assets Harvard had," said Tim Peterson, president of Regiment Capital, a Boston investment firm that manages some of Harvard's money.
But Meyer made as much news for his disputed compensation policies as for his investment prowess. Because Harvard manages a significant portion of its money internally -- a rarity among universities -- Meyer insisted he had to pay his investment managers the kind of salaries they could earn in the private sector. Two years ago, Harvard's top two managers made $35 million each. Meyer himself earned $7.2 million last year.