Updated Wednesday at 2:40 p.m.

Harvard’s Executive Vice President Edward C. Forst ’82—tasked with overseeing University finances amid an unprecedented economic downturn—will step down after less than one year on the job, University officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

As executive vice president, Forst was appointed to manage the offices for human resources, administration, and finance—which previously reported directly to the President. In his role, Forst quickly became one of the closest advisers to University President Drew G. Faust on the administration’s response to the economic turmoil, which has already led the University to make sweeping budget cuts.

A 26-year veteran of Wall Street, Forst cited a desire to seek out opportunities in a financial world much-changed by the crisis. He will leave his position Aug. 1.

“This has been an outstanding year for me,” he said Tuesday. “But it’s time to return to where I began.”

Forst said he intends to continue advising Harvard on finances and capital planning and serving on Harvard’s Debt-Asset Management Committee. He will also join the Committee on University Resources, a little-known body of prominent donors.

“I was surprised and I was disappointed, but I understood,” said Faust, who first heard of Forst’s decision several weeks ago. “He’s been a huge asset this year, in part because of his deep understanding of finances and markets.”

The first to hold the post of executive vice president at Harvard, Forst said that he sought to improve the cost-effectiveness of the University’s operations by consolidating functions—such as office supply purchases—that have traditionally been handled separately at each of Harvard’s schools.

“A lot of what we’ve done is to try to challenge the status quo of the University, to find ways to do things differently and more intelligently,” Forst said Tuesday.

In the wake of the recent downturn, Forst’s job description expanded to include working with top administrators struggling to close budgetary gaps and slash expenses at the schools, in addition to meeting with Faust on an almost-daily basis. During interviews in the past few months, many administrators called his contributions “critical” to the budget-cutting process.

Forst said he viewed his short time in the position as an opportunity to leave a more lasting imprint on the management of the University.

“I hope we have created a new culture of choice-making and priorities,” he said, “and I hope that continues whether [Harvard is] in a period of affluence or a period of some challenge.”

Forst, who holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, arrived from Goldman Sachs at the end of a protracted year-long search. Though new to higher education administration, he had kept a hand in Harvard’s affairs, co-chairing several class gift committees and the University Committee on Student Excellence and Opportunity.

Faust said that she hopes to fill the position “promptly,” but declined to place a timestamp on the process.

—Staff writer Athena Y. Jiang can be reached at ajiang@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer June Q. Wu can be reached at junewu@fas.harvard.edu.