Fidelity’s Abigail Johnson Shakes Up Executive Ranks, Again

Fidelity Investments appointed a new slate of executives to senior roles, including finance chief, in one of the biggest management reshuffles in Abigail Johnson’s near-decadelong run as chief executive officer.

The moves reflect Johnson’s commitment to rotating members of her leadership team into new roles, exposing them to different parts of the company and bringing new perspectives to those assignments. All but one of Fidelity’s major businesses, and now many of its corporate functions, have welcomed new leaders since late 2022. Among the changes: Maggie Serravalli, the finance chief, was appointed chief administrative officer.

What the changes don’t do is offer much clarity on who will emerge as Johnson’s top deputy. Johnson, 62 years old, has never appointed a No. 2 executive, and the recent flurry of moves has only added to her list of direct reports. The last Fidelity executive to serve as president or chief operating officer was Johnson herself, a decade ago.

The company, by many measures, is doing well: Fidelity posted record revenue last year, thanks in part to the market’s 2023 rally.

Fidelity was a pioneer, and later the biggest player, in the business of managing and selling mutual funds to Americans eager to beat the stock market. In decades past, the firm led with its bevy of star stock pickers, whose every move held Wall Street’s attention.

But as the asset-management industry matured, the company expanded into adjacent businesses that offered investment accounts to individuals directly, through their corporate retirement plan or financial advisers. This transition has accelerated under Johnson, who succeeded her father, Edward “Ned” Johnson III, as Fidelity’s CEO in 2014.

Fidelity remains, as it was under Ned Johnson and his father, Edward Johnson II, a privately held company controlled by the family. Unlike its publicly traded rivals, which include Charles Schwab, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley and T. Rowe Price, Fidelity isn’t required to disclose the same level of detail on its financial results. No institutional investors own its shares, and Wall Street analysts don’t dial in to quiz or praise its executives on quarterly conference calls. In fact, there are no conference calls at all.

Once a year, though, Fidelity provides a snapshot of its financial performance to its employees. And on Wednesday, the company told them that its operating income totaled $8.5 billion in 2023, up 6% from a year earlier. Revenue climbed 12% to $28.2 billion.

Its assets under management, or what it holds in its own investment funds, jumped 26% to $4.9 trillion. Assets under administration, which includes its own funds as well as other assets held in the accounts it manages, rose 23% to $12.6 trillion, Fidelity said.

At year’s end, Fidelity had nearly 50 million individual customers, and processed 2.6 million trades a day.

The new management changes were recently announced inside the company.

Serravalli, who was named chief financial officer in 2020, will now oversee legal, human resources and other corporate services. Succeeding her as finance chief is Kevin Barry, who for several years was president of Fidelity’s Workplace Investing business.

Sharon Brovelli succeeded Barry as head of Workplace, which oversees corporate 401(k) plans and other benefit programs. Fidelity named Bill Freitas and Mona Vernon as heads of technology and human resources, respectively. Roberto Braceras succeeded Jonathan Chiel as general counsel. Chiel is now senior counsel.

Some of the executives are starting new jobs that appear to bear little resemblance to their previous ones. Vernon, for instance, previously headed the company’s internal R&D unit, Fidelity Labs.

The moves follow other big changes at Fidelity within the past year.

In late 2023, the company divided its Personal Investing unit, which offers individual accounts online and through a network of branches, into separate brokerage and wealth-management divisions. It appointed Tom Jessop, who helped lead Fidelity’s push into cryptocurrencies, as head of brokerage. Roger Stiles, the head of technology, was tapped to lead Fidelity Wealth. Joanna Rotenberg, whom Fidelity had recruited from Canada’s BMO Financial two years ago to run Personal Investing, left after its split.

In late 2022, Fidelity appointed Vadim Zlotnikov as head of Fidelity Institutional, which advises and executes trades for wealth managers and investment firms. Ron DePoalo runs the brokerage platform that serves both institutional and retail businesses.

Serravalli, Barry, Brovelli, Freitas, Jessop, Stiles, Zlotnikov, DePoalo and the asset-management boss, Bart Grenier, all report directly to Johnson.

Write to Justin Baer at [email protected]