Finance Vice President Resigns Unexpectedly

In a stunning move, Vice President for Finance Allen J. Proctor '74 unexpectedly announced his resignation yesterday, effective April 8.

Proctor had served in his current position for a mere 17 months. He was appointed in October 1994 after a 13-month search by President Neil L. Rudenstine.

The outgoing vice president said yesterday that he left primarily because he had difficulties adjusting to the decentralized management structure of the University.

"The number of people involved in a decision here is large and variable," Proctor said. "I'm not comfortable in that kind of environment. I'm not patient enough."

At the time of Proctor's appointment, however, University officials said they felt Proctor would adjust well to a decentralized structure.

Vice President James H. Rowe III '73 told The Crimson in 1994 that Proctor had demonstrated a remarkable capacity for reconciling differences of opinion while working as a New York City budget guru.

"He's very astute at working under pressure and forming consensus views," Rowe said at the time.

Sources have told The Crimson in the past that Proctor has had difficulty getting along with members of his staff and has created unrest throughout the University with his aggressive budget-cutting.

One of Harvard's chief financial officers, Proctor will depart in the middle of the University's $2.1 billion capital campaign, a fundraising drive whose scope is unprecedented in higher education.

The departure also comes in the middle of the University's massive Administrative Data Project (ADP), an attempt to improve the quality and consistency of information and the efficiency of its transactions. Proctor was intimately involved in the planning stages of the project, which will not be completed until the next decade.

Proctor will be leaving his job in three weeks, a far shorter notice than most other top University officials have given. Even former provost Jerry R. Green, who resigned partially in disgust over Rudenstine's lack of focus and vision for the University, stayed on more than two months after he announced his departure.

A Bad Fit?

Last night, Proctor said that while he knew Harvard's management would not be as hierarchical, he did not know the extent to which it is decentralized or how he would adjust to it before he started working here.

When he accepted the position in 1994, however, Proctor said he was enthusiastic about working in a decentralized environment.

"I endorse the every tub on its own bottom approach that Harvard uses," he told The Crimson on September 21 of that year.

Provost Albert Carnesale, who will be leading the search for Proctor's replacement, said the University had no way of knowing that Proctor would not adjust well to Harvard.

"Nobody is perfectly suited to this job," Carnesale said in an interview yesterday. "I don't know that this was predictable to Allen or to us. We may have learned what may be more important to success in this position."

Proctor said temperament may be the most important factor in dealing with Harvard's management structure.

"This job requires someone who likes developing consensus, bringing lots of people together," Proctor said. "To me, it's usually pretty apparent what the solution should be. I feel like we should implement it and move on. Financial decisions here are University-wide and involve 20 or 25 people. It's just not fun for me."

Proctor, who is also a lecturer at the Kennedy School, will work as a special assistant to Rudenstine until the end of the academic year to help ease the transition to a new vice president.

Proctor's main attribute, Carnesale said, is his ability as a "shrewd" financial manager.

As a result, one of his major tasks here has been examining Harvard's budgets and looking for ways to cut costs.

"We've had tremendous successes," Proctor said. "I just wish we'd had three times as many of them in this amount of time."

The management of most universities, Carnesale said, follows a more horizontal structure than that of most corporations, whose power structures are arranged vertically.

Harvard, he said, is probably more decentralized than any other university in the country.

"Ours is not the ideal working place for someone who is used to structure," Carnesale said.

Proctor said Rudenstine and Carnesale have been very supportive of him in his position and in his decision to leave.

"I went to the president and provost and said that I'm not having fun here. We all agreed we need a vice president who is comfortable with the Harvard environment," Proctor said.

Proctor's Future

Proctor will be staying on as a special assistant to Rudenstine to help with the transition to the new vice president, despite the fact that the previous search took more than a year.

"I decided to move on, and rather than work on a future I didn't want to be a part of, I felt I should move quickly," Proctor said. "When I talked to the president and the provost, they said they wanted to move on and get someone in place as quickly as possible."

Despite the suddenness of the decision, Carnesale said the timing of this decision is particularly fortuitous.

Proctor has finished many of his major projects at this point, including the financial planing of the ADP and the draft of the 1997 budget, and staying on would only mean beginning work on new projects he would not be able to see to completion, Proctor said.

Proctor said he plans to stay in the Boston area and look for jobs in the private sector.

Proctor's Successor

Carnesale will spearhead the search for Proctor's successor, according to a statement from the University.

He said last night that the first thing the committee will do is look at names of people involved in the previous search for the position, fewer than two years ago

"This job requires someone who likes developing consensus, bringing lots of people together," Proctor said. "To me, it's usually pretty apparent what the solution should be. I feel like we should implement it and move on. Financial decisions here are University-wide and involve 20 or 25 people. It's just not fun for me."

Proctor, who is also a lecturer at the Kennedy School, will work as a special assistant to Rudenstine until the end of the academic year to help ease the transition to a new vice president.

Proctor's main attribute, Carnesale said, is his ability as a "shrewd" financial manager.

As a result, one of his major tasks here has been examining Harvard's budgets and looking for ways to cut costs.

"We've had tremendous successes," Proctor said. "I just wish we'd had three times as many of them in this amount of time."

The management of most universities, Carnesale said, follows a more horizontal structure than that of most corporations, whose power structures are arranged vertically.

Harvard, he said, is probably more decentralized than any other university in the country.

"Ours is not the ideal working place for someone who is used to structure," Carnesale said.

Proctor said Rudenstine and Carnesale have been very supportive of him in his position and in his decision to leave.

"I went to the president and provost and said that I'm not having fun here. We all agreed we need a vice president who is comfortable with the Harvard environment," Proctor said.

Proctor's Future

Proctor will be staying on as a special assistant to Rudenstine to help with the transition to the new vice president, despite the fact that the previous search took more than a year.

"I decided to move on, and rather than work on a future I didn't want to be a part of, I felt I should move quickly," Proctor said. "When I talked to the president and the provost, they said they wanted to move on and get someone in place as quickly as possible."

Despite the suddenness of the decision, Carnesale said the timing of this decision is particularly fortuitous.

Proctor has finished many of his major projects at this point, including the financial planing of the ADP and the draft of the 1997 budget, and staying on would only mean beginning work on new projects he would not be able to see to completion, Proctor said.

Proctor said he plans to stay in the Boston area and look for jobs in the private sector.

Proctor's Successor

Carnesale will spearhead the search for Proctor's successor, according to a statement from the University.

He said last night that the first thing the committee will do is look at names of people involved in the previous search for the position, fewer than two years ago