Vanguard CEO F. William McNabb To Step Down

F. William McNabb III plans to step down as chief executive of Vanguard Group after leading the indexing pioneer through a decade when it emerged as the world's second-largest money manager.

His replacement starting in January will be Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley, 48 years old, who is currently Vanguard's chief investment officer.

Mr. McNabb, 60, and Mr. Buckley are longtime insiders at Vanguard, a suburban Philadelphia firm that launched the first index mutual fund for individual investors 40 years ago.

Mr. Buckley started as an assistant to Vanguard founder Jack Bogle two and half decades ago. Mr. McNabb began his career with Vanguard in 1986 and became CEO in 2008. Mr. McNabb will become chairman next year and eventually pass that role to Mr. Buckley as well.

Under Mr. McNabb, Vanguard transformed from a low-cost manager of $1.25 trillion in assets to one with $4.4 trillion in assets under management, trailing only BlackRock Inc. in total size. Vanguard has pulled in new assets at a record pace in recent years as investors lost faith in more traditional money managers who handpick stocks and bonds.

"My goal has always been to leave the woodpile higher than where I found it," Mr. McNabb said in an interview. "I think that's the right amount of time for someone to run an organization like Vanguard. It's complex, it's all consuming, and it's good to get fresh perspective, even with the kind of continuity we have here."

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Tom McGinty

contributed to this article.

Write to Sarah Krouse at sarah.krouse@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 13, 2017 16:28 ET (20:28 GMT)