Before a call from University President Lawrence H. Summers in the fall, Rothenberg said he had only met the president briefly at a couple of economic conferences in Washington, D.C. Since that call, however, Rothenberg said the two have met, both in Cambridge and Los Angeles, to discuss the Corporation and the role of the treasurer.

“Jim Rothenberg will bring a great deal of valuable experience and practical wisdom to an essential role in Harvard’s governance,” Summers said in a press release.

Rothenberg serves as a director and president of The Investment Company of America, the chairman of The Growth Fund of America and Fundamental Investors, in addition to his post as president and director of the Capital Research and Management Company. He was also the governor of the National Association of Securities Dealers from 1996 to 2002, and was a member of the board of directors of NASDAQ from 1996 to 1999.

He is an active philanthropist in Los Angeles, serving on the boards of the Huntington Memorial Hospital, the Westridge School and KCET, a public television station.

Rothenberg lived in Quincy House as an undergraduate and concentrated in English. He was exempt from military service for medical reasons and enrolled at HBS upon graduating from the College in 1968.

He has spent his entire career with the Capital Group, working there since he graduated from HBS in 1970.

—Staff writer Lauren A. E. Schuker can be reached at schuker@fas.harvard.edu.