TOI correspondent from Washington: Nirmal Narvekar, the Indian-American financier who spent nearly a decade reshaping the investment machinery behind Harvard University’s colossal $57 billion endowment, is preparing to retire, closing one of the most consequential – and controversial – chapters in modern university finance.
Known on Wall Street and in Ivy League circles simply as “Narv,” Narvekar reportedly informed Harvard’s governing board that he would step down in 2027 after giving the university time to prepare a succession plan. His departure comes as Harvard’s $57 billion kitty -- the largest university fund in the world, 3.5 times larger than India’s central education budget -- sits at the centre of a political and financial storm triggered by the Trump administration’s cuts to federal funding.
