20 Candidates Considered for Treasurer

Since College Treasurer George Putnam '49 announced his retirement two months ago Walter M. Cabot '55, president of the Harvard Management Company, has seemed to he his likely successor.

But with the formation of a search committee in December to appoint a replacement, it appears that Cabot is now only one of about 20 names being considered for the Corporation post.

The members of the treasurer search committee include President Bok and Corporation members Andrew Heiskell '35, Colman M. Mockler Jr. '52 and Robert G. Stone Jr. '45, according to Putnam. None could be reached for comment yesterday.

Putnam said when he announced his retirement, effective this June, that "everything's running amoothly now, and I'd like to see Walter Cabot succeed me."

However, the 51-year-old Cabot said this week that he has not been offered the job, and said he would only be interested in becoming treasurer if he could also keep his job as Harvard's chief investment manager.

"At the moment I'm very satisfied running Harvard Management Company," Cabot said. "I'm still vigorous and I still love the investment business, and I think that's what I do best."

But Cabot added, "If they changed the job description, if they combined somehow the role of treasure and president of Harvard Management, I guess I probably would be interested."

Protégé

Up until 1974, when Putnam became treasurer and formed Harvard Management Company-giving its presidency to Cabot, his longtime protege-the treasurer's job included managing investments.

Both Putnam and Financial Vice-President Thomas O'Brien said they are not sure that the Corporation would tie the two jobs back together.

"I think it is probably best than there should be some objectivity. It would be hard for me as the day-to-day head of Harvard Management to fire myself." Cabot said. "I'm still vigerous and I still love the investment business, and I think that's what I do best."

But Cabot also said "in the past the treasurer had always managed the endowment, and it probably worked dammed well. There's a history and a model to [the old system] that goes back a lot longer than this one." he added.

The treasurer now broadly oversees the management company on behalf of the Corporation and advises Harvard on budgeting and major asset purchases.

Cabot said he expects that the committee will select a "reasonably full-time treasurer." a successful investor or businessman over 55 years of age, who would live near Cambridge.

O'Brien agreed that the new treasures would probably be an investment banker or a stockbroker, but said that he foresaw that the treasurer job would only need one-half to one-third of the person's time.

Putnam, however, said in November that consolidating the offices of treasurer and president of the management company would satisfy what Putnam saw as the Corporation's desire to have case full-time official is charge of the University's finances. If Cabot that the post of treasurer, he would also suffer a substantial cut in pay from his current salary of more than $200,000 to president of the management company.

"As treasurer, I would think he would have to conform to the Corporation's pay scale," Putnam said. The treasurer is now paid as a part-time scale for his work.