EVP Ed Forst to leave Harvard Aug. 1; return to financial sector

Edward C. Forst has decided to step down as the University’s executive vice president as of Aug. 1, to return with his family to New York and to resume his career in the financial services industry.

“Ed has been a leader in the financial industry for 26 years,” said President Drew Faust. “His expertise and experience have played a central role in shaping Harvard’s response to the extraordinary upheaval in the financial markets this year. I am grateful for what he has done to help us navigate a year of particular challenge and change, and I wish him all the best in his plans to return to New York, his longtime family home, and to the financial world, his longtime professional home. He will remain a valued alumnus and adviser, and I know we will continue to benefit from his knowledge and insight.”

Forst will continue in his role through the end of July, and after that will remain an active adviser to the University on financial and capital planning matters. Forst will continue to serve on the University’s Debt-Asset Management Committee and will join Harvard’s Committee on University Resources.

“I have been devoted to Harvard since I arrived here as a freshman in 1978,” said Forst. “It has been a privilege to lead the University’s financial, administrative, and human resources teams during such an unprecedented time in the University’s history, and I am very proud of all that has been accomplished by the talented colleagues I’ve worked with at Harvard. I look forward to continuing my close engagement with the University as an adviser and volunteer.”

Forst is a 1982 graduate of Harvard College and received his M.B.A. from Wharton in 1988. He has served as co-chair of the reunion gift committee for his 20th and 25th Harvard College reunions and as vice chair for his 15th reunion. From 2005 to 2008, he co-chaired the University Committee on Student Excellence and Opportunity, which was established to explore ways of reducing financial barriers to attending Harvard.

Forst came to Harvard in 2008 from The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., where he was a member of the Management Committee, and most recently served as the firm’s global head of the Investment Management Division. He is currently a trustee of Carnegie Hall and previously served as a trustee of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a private nonprofit ocean research, engineering, and education organization.

Faust said she would be moving expeditiously with the search for a new executive vice president, in consultation with deans, key administrators, and others.