Deals and People October 13, 2014

Abigail Johnson Takes Lead at Fidelity

October 13, 2014 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Abigail P. Johnson, the granddaughter of Fidelity’s founder, has agreed to accept the position of CEO of FMR LLC.
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As president and CEO, Johnson, who was named president of the firm in 2012, “will continue to be responsible for executive management of all the firm’s diversified businesses,” according to Fidelity. She takes the helm from her father, Edward C. Johnson 3rd, who will remain chairman of the firm and will provide strategic oversight.

A memo distributed to employees says Abigail Johnson’s appointment as CEO reflects “a further step forward in our leadership succession plan.”

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Additionally, according to the memo, Gerry McGraw, president of Fidelity Institutional, and Mike Wilens, president of Fidelity Enterprise Services, have been elected directors of the company.

Since joining the firm full time in 1988, Johnson has worked in and overseen numerous businesses at Fidelity. Before assuming her current role, she served as president of Fidelity’s retail, workplace and institutional businesses. Prior to that, she ran Fidelity’s workplace business.

Having begun her Fidelity career as an equity research analyst, Johnson has also spent a number of years in the company’s asset management division, including serving as president from 2001 to 2005. During her tenure, she managed a number of Fidelity mutual funds before serving as an associate director for the firm’s equity division, where she oversaw and coordinated the activities of the growth and capital appreciation groups. Johnson also managed the company’s equity investment systems, overseeing the design and implementation of technology initiatives essential to Fidelity’s trading, portfolio construction, management and research capabilities. 

In addition to her responsibilities with FMR, Johnson is chairman of Fidelity Worldwide Investment (FIL Ltd.), a separate company that operates independently of FMR.

Johnson received a bachelor of arts degree in art history from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1984 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1988. She is a member of the board of the directors of the Associates at the Harvard Business School and of the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Deals and People October 13, 2014

TIAA-CREF Endowment Management Business Names CEO

October 13, 2014 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Covariance Capital Management appointed Kevin Nee as chief executive officer.
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Covariance Capital Management is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TIAA-CREF that provides outsourced endowment management services to educational, health care and other nonprofits. Nee will be responsible for the strategic leadership of the business, including new business development and day-to-day oversight of operations and finance. Scott W. Wise, who has led Covariance as president and chief investment officer since its launch in 2011, will remain in those roles.

Covariance offers clients fully integrated outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) functions, including asset allocation, investment of capital with third-party managers, performance and risk reporting, as well as operational and accounting support related to investment services. In addition, Covariance manages dedicated portfolios of alternative assets.

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Nee brings more than two decades of investment management, global business development and leadership experience to Covariance. He joins the firm from Wilshire Private Markets, where he led a team of 40 professionals across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia and oversaw the management of approximately $5 billion in discretionary client assets across commingled funds and separate accounts in the private markets. He was previously a managing director at BlackRock Alternative Advisors and a principal and portfolio manager at Quellos Private Capital Markets. Prior to those roles, he worked at Capital Z Partners and Invesco Private Capital, where he also managed private equity assets. 

Nee holds an MBA from Columbia University’s Columbia Business School and a B.S. in business administration from Villanova University.

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