Over four of the last five years, profits at Harvard Student Agencies have grown twelve-fold. The $3.5 million business has moved out of the Yard and into spiffy new offices on Church Street. The money's pouring in, especially at HSA's publishing and sales arm Let's Go, Inc. But is the largest student-run company in America really fulfilling its mission at Harvard? Scrutiny by Stephen E. Frank

The president of the largest student-run corporation in America is laughing.

Leaning back in the swivel chair in his spacious new office, he is the picture of confidence--relaxed, nattily dressed in his blue blazer, starched white Ralph Lauren oxford and khaki slacks.

He plays absent-mindedly with his wristwatch, the soft light from his porcelain desk lamp glittering off its metal face. The smile that dances perpetually around the edges of his mouth betrays slight bemusement at all the attention he is getting.

Here is the reporter, jotting down his every word. Here is the photographer snapping pictures.

"The flash didn't go off on that last one," he chuckles.

"Make sure you get the earring," he grins, turning his head to accentuate the diamond stud in his left ear. "I'm a cool president."

Martin Escobari '94, native of Bolivia, resident of Winthrop House, and concentrator in economics, has reason to smile.

As president of Harvard Student Agencies (HSA), he manages the day-to-day operations of a campus behemoth: a $3.5 million corporation, comprising 10 separate divisions and employing more than 1,000 of his classmates.

HSA isn't just huge, it's diversified. One branch of the company concentrates on laundry and dry-cleaning, another does catering, another operates a snack and magazine shop. HSA includes a typographics firm, a travel agency, a distribution arm, and a separately incorporated publishing and sales group.

Last year alone, HSA's Let's Go publishing division produced 20 editions of the world's bestselling budget travel guide, with a readership estimated at 3.5 million. Royalties on the book contract approached $800,000 in fiscal 1993, and are expected to reach at least $930,000 by 1997, according to HSA's tax returns.

And 21-year-old Martin Escobari is on top of it all.

"I sign every check," he says. "I've signed checks for over $100,000."

HSA is now 36 years old and at the pinnacle of its success. Between 1989 and 1992, the company's profits grew by more than 12 times--soaring from $41,327 in fiscal 1989 to $499,725 in 1992--according to tax returns.

HSA recently vacated its longtime Harvard Yard headquarters, a dark and mazelike warren of passageways in the basement of Thayer Hall, for a brighter, airier home in Harvard Square. The move means higher rent--by 1995, HSA will be paying virtually double the $31,147 it paid for the Thayer Hall space in 1992--but also a greater degree of independence from the University.