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The University's new senior financial officer is an old Harvard hand. Elizabeth "Beppie" Huidekoper became vice president for finance on May 6, succeeding Allen J. Proctor '74, who resigned effective April 8, citing frustrations with Harvard's highly decentralized administrative structure (Harvard Magazine, May-June, page 79). Perhaps acknowledging the challenge of managing in such an environment, President Neil L. Rudenstine and Provost Albert Carnesale turned to an experienced insider to fill the position.

Huidekoper, who graduated from Bowdoin College and holds an M.B.A. from Boston University, came to Harvard in 1981 as a senior financial analyst. She subsequently became director of the University's budget office and of the office of research administration, which oversees sponsored research-the source of $300 million-plus in revenue annually. In 1994, she served for six months as acting vice president for finance, the position to which she now returns after a year spent taking an advanced management program, traveling, and volunteering in the Boston public schools.

In announcing the appointment, Rudenstine cited Huidekoper's 14 years of service as "one of Harvard's most capable and highly regarded administrators... [with] a deep knowledge of Harvard and a strong command of the financial challenges facing the University." He also praised her "uncommon talent for thinking through the interplay between academic goals and financial resources, and for working with colleagues across the University on ways to make our administrative and financial systems more effective and efficient."

Citing the "important and largely unprecedented economic challenges facing Harvard and all of higher education," Huidekoper said, "I look forward to making a contribution by working closely with others at Harvard to sustain our revenue streams, to control costs, and to make sure the University administration serves the needs of faculty and students in the best possible ways."

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