Ex-Harvard employee says she warned Summers of risky moves and was fired for it

Ex-employee says she warned Harvard of risky moves
Endowment staffer fired after letter to president

By Beth Healy
Globe Staff / April 3, 2009


...

She would go on to say, in later e-mails and conversations, that she felt the endowment was taking on too much risk in derivatives investments, and that she suspected some of her colleagues were engaging in insider trading, according to a separate letter written by her lawyer that summarized the correspondence.

On July 2 Mack was fired. But six years later, the kinds of investments she allegedly warned about did blow up on Harvard. The endowment plunged 22 percent last summer, in part due to the collapse of the credit markets. As a result, the school is cutting costs and under criticism that it took on too much risk in its investment portfolio.

Mack, who holds a doctorate in mathematics from Harvard, had been with Harvard Management for just four months when she approached Summers. She asked him to keep her communications confidential, or risk making her life "a living hell."

But on July 1, Mack was called into a meeting by her boss, Jack Meyer, then the chief of Harvard Management.

The next day Meyer fired her, according to the letter from her attorney, Jonathan Margolis, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe. Meyer told Mack that she was fired for making "baseless allegations against HMC to individuals outside of HMC," according to the Margolis letter.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/04/03/ex_employee_says_she_warned_harvard_of_risky_moves/


Whatever Summers may have to offer is significantly outweighed by his baggage.

The president of Harvard University, Lawrence H. Summers, sparked an uproar at an academic conference Friday when he said that innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers. Summers also questioned how much of a role discrimination plays in the dearth of female professors in science and engineering at elite universities.

...The percentage of tenured job offers made to women by the university's Faculty of Arts and Sciences has dropped dramatically since Summers took office,




http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/01/17/summers_remarks_on_women_draw_fire/

"WASHINGTON -- Top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers received about $5.2 million over the past year in compensation from hedge fund D.E. Shaw, and also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from major financial institutions.

A financial disclosure form released by the White House Friday afternoon shows that Mr. Summers made frequent appearances before Wall Street firms including J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. He also received significant income from Harvard University and from investments, the form shows.

In total, Mr. Summers made a total of about 40 speaking appearances to financial sector firms and other places, with fees totaling about $2.77 million. Fees ranged from $10,000 for a Yale University speech to $135,000 for an appearance paid for by Goldman Sachs & Co..."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879462053487927.html

could actually be smart at math.

Oh the irony !

have turned out to be whistle blowers precisely because they aren't in the Club? I'm afraid most whistleblowers end up getting fired , only to see the events they predicted come true later.

Smartass Summers outmathed by 'a mere woman'.

I can dig it.

Great idea! :think:

a place in the current environment.

people who orchestrated the ROBBERY.

It's like our Nation is getting financially raped ... TWICE OVER! :grr:

All we have to look forward to is the impending DEPRESSION while those who have stolen our money reside behind gated communities or in exotic foreign lands. :(