And in what appeared to be a small concession to critics of the burgeoning salaries, the management company board voted in March to lower the maximum compensation for its endowment managers. At the time, Summers said the change “would lead to a significant reduction in top compensation levels.”

Meyer would not say yesterday what the maximum compensation is or whether any managers had encountered the cap in last fiscal year’s salaries.

Meyer has repeatedly acknowledged that intense scrutiny of manager salaries could force Harvard to move to external management of its endowment.

“Maybe it’s not possible to maintain these world-class portfolio managers in an academic setting,” Meyer said.

Jeffrey B. Larson earned $8.1 million in his final fiscal year managing foreign equities at Harvard. He left the management company on June 30 to form his own hedge fund, Sowood Capital, backed in part by University money.

Shawn Martin, who invests domestic and foreign bonds, earned $6.6 million last fiscal year, while Craig Szeman, who invests domestic equities, pulled in $5.8 million to replace Elizabeth A. Randall among the six highest compensated managers.

—Staff writer Zachary M. Seward can be reached at seward@fas.harvard.edu.