Faculty Finance Dean Departs

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has lost another top financial administrator in the midst of its struggle with a $110 million budget deficit.

Former Associate Dean for Finance Deena Giancotti departed for a consulting job last week after five years at Harvard, during which time FAS witnessed both a period of unprecedented growth and the current fiscal crisis.

“We are very grateful to Deena for her years of service in leading the FAS finance organization, particularly this last year through what proved to be one of the most challenging in our history,” wrote FAS Dean Michael D. Smith in an e-mail to administrators earlier this month.

Giancotti left Harvard less than a month after Leslie A. Kirwan ’79—appointed by Smith in September—took on the post of FAS dean for administration and finance, a position whose responsibilities overlap with those of Giancotti’s old job.

Giancotti joins a growing group of departing Harvard financial administrators.

This July, Brett C. Sweet, former dean of administration and finance, was named chief financial officer at Vanderbilt after less than a year at Harvard. And a month earlier, University Executive Vice President Edward C. Forst ’82 returned to Wall Street after only a year in his Harvard job.

After his departure, Sweet’s responsibilities were temporarily split, with Giancotti taking on the additional FAS financial responsibilities.

Smith appointed Kirwan to replace Sweet in September. She assumed her position on Nov. 2, around the time Giancotti approached Smith about her departure. Before coming to Harvard, Giancotti had been a manager at the professional service firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. During her tenure at Harvard, she oversaw the restructuring and growth of FAS’s finance offices and spearheaded the publication of a new annual FAS financial report.

Former FAS Budget Director Eric Kopstain has agreed to take over Giancotti’s duties until a permanent replacement is found. He declined to comment for this article. Giancotti was also unavailable for comment.

No official announcement was made about Giancotti’s departure, and members of her office said they did not know where, specifically, she had gone. As of last night, she was still listed in the Harvard directory under her former position.

“Through a number of leadership changes, Deena has quietly and consistently worked to improve the financial systems and processes of the FAS,” Smith wrote.

—Staff writer Noah S. Rayman can be reached at nrayman@fas.harvard.edu.