Q&A with Dan Shore
Harvard University’s latest annual report reflects the effects of difficult strategic choices made during tumultuous economic times. The results are encouraging, but Chief Financial Officer Dan Shore says that Harvard will need to continue managing its expenses cautiously as it works through the lingering ramifications of the Great Recession. Shore spoke with the Gazette about the latest snapshot of University finances. GAZETTE: This report represents the first full fiscal year after Harvard had to make some adjustments to meet changed financial circumstances. What’s the bottom line? SHORE: I think the year went very well. The most important thing we needed to do was to realign our organization and our finances with the reality of the endowment having lost 27 percent in fiscal 2009. We were able to do that in very significant ways. We reduced our overall spending. But perhaps even more impressive, we reduced our controllable, nonsponsored spending by 6...