Marc Goodheart, Longtime Secretary of Harvard’s Governing Boards, to Step Down in May

Marc L. Goodheart ’81, the longtime secretary to the University's secretive governing boards, will leave Loeb House after more than 27 years in the role to take a new position as a senior adviser to the president of the University.

Goodheart will depart his role as secretary of the governing boards at the end of the academic year, but he will continue to remain a senior staff member within the University’s administration as an adviser to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 and other top officials.

Over three decades as an adviser to Harvard’s top leadership, Goodheart served seven University presidents and five senior fellows of the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body. In the role, Goodheart acquired a wealth of institutional knowledge and has become an expert on University policies and procedures.

As secretary of the governing boards, Goodheart had a major role in guiding the University through a historic overhaul of the Corporation’s governance structure, which saw the body nearly double its size and impose 12-year term limits on its members.

Goodheart, who was once described by a former Harvard Corporation member as the University’s “keeper of the keys,” also had an influential role in guiding Harvard through the turmoil and uncertainty sparked by former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation on Jan. 2.

The announcement of Goodheart’s departure comes less than two months after the permanent appointments of Garber and Harvard Provost John F. Manning ’82 at the helm of the University, effectively ending the leadership crisis.

The Harvard Corporation — the University's highest governing body — conducts its business in Loeb House. By Frank S. Zhou

“Where there have been gaps between where we are and where we want to be, he has endeavored to narrow them in his customarily unassuming fashion, enriching deliberations with his matchless understanding of history and precedent,” Garber wrote.

“Though he would be the last to admit it, he has quietly guided Harvard through change and through storm, seeking neither credit nor praise in the process,” Garber added.

Goodheart’s final act as secretary of the governing boards will likely include a significant role in supporting the Corporation’s efforts to reform its presidential search process — a process announced by Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker ’81 in April.

The University is looking to conclude its reforms some time before the launch of a search for the 31st president of Harvard, which is expected to begin in spring 2026.

Goodheart, who has sought to elude the media spotlight during his tenure in University leadership, said in a rare public statement that he looks forward to continuing to help Harvard “navigate an exceptionally challenging time.”

“What has kept me here longer than I’d ever imagined is not simply the allure of the University’s mission, not simply the devotion and resilience of the people devoted to advancing it, not simply the University’s inexhaustible capacity to serve up novel and intriguing issues, but the recognition that there is always, inevitably, a gap between Harvard’s ambitious ideals and their fulfillment,” Goodheart added.

The Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication, wrote in an article that Goodheart’s new position in Harvard’s top administration will entail “a wide range of duties drawing on his extensive experience in areas relating to institutional policies, presidential priorities, and planning of major University events.”

But Goodheart is also known among Harvard leadership for his prose and sense of humor — including the elaborate puns that mark the conferral of honorary degrees during Commencement.

“I have reached a time in life when hardly a day goes by when my mail at home doesn’t include at least one advertisement for a Medicare plan,” Goodheart wrote.

—Staff writer Emma H. Haidar can be reached at emma.haidar@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @HaidarEmma.

—Staff writer Cam E. Kettles can be reached at cam.kettles@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cam_kettles or on Threads @camkettles.