Rubin met with members of the presidential search committee on numerous occasions.

"I [told] them what I said all along, that he was extremely qualified," Rubin told The Crimson in January.

Harvard Alumni Association president Scott Abell said that the incoming president did not play a role in choosing Rubin to speak.

"It is a fortuitous and very happy coincidence that Mr. Rubin accepted our invitation as the Commencement speaker several months before Lawrence Summers...was chosen to become the next president of Harvard," Abell said.

Rogoff was also quick to downplay Rubin's friendship with Summers as a reason Rubin was invited to speak.

"Actually I thought it was more like Summers was chosen because of his ties with Rubin," Rogoff quipped.

After graduating from Harvard, Rubin attended the London School of Economics before heading to Yale Law School. In 1966, the New York City native joined Goldman Sachs and Co., eventually becoming the co-senior partner and co-chair before working on Wall Street.