Vanguard Group's board of directors has elected F. William McNabb III as president and director of Vanguard effective March 1. McNabb, 50, is set to succeed Jack Brennan as chief executive officer within a year.
"Working in concert with our experienced senior management team and board, Bill is the ideal person to lead Vanguard into the future," Brennan says. "I am thrilled that our directors have named him as my successor."
Brennan, 53, has been Vanguard's president since 1989 and CEO since 1996; he will remain chairman of the board, the fund company says.
Jack Brennan "has been a driving force in all our efforts to advance the interests of funds and their shareholders and to sustain the highest ethical and fiduciary standards in our business," shares Investment Company Institute President & CEO Paul Schott Stevens.
McNabb joined Vanguard in 1986, and as a managing director he oversees Vanguard's institutional and international businesses with some $700 billion in assets under management.
Vanguard, based in Valley Forge, Pa., manages $1.25 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets and offers more than 150 funds to U.S. investors and 50-plus funds in foreign markets.
In the latest estimates from Financial Research Corporation of Boston, Vanguard is leading the industry in terms of estimated net flows in January 2008 with some $8 billion of new flows in January 2008, giving it some $1 trillion in assets, net of proprietary funds of funds.
The Vanguard Total Stock Index fund had some $2.5 billion of net inflows in January, according to FRC, while the Vanguard Institutional Index fund had $1.3 billion of new inflows. The Vanguard Total Bond Fund had some $990 million of inflows and the Vanguard Inflation Protection Fund had $960 million.