Jamie Baxter, independent vice-chair of the Putnam Funds board, has been elected chair of the Mutual Fund Directors Forum, replacing David Ruder, who had been chairman since the Forum’s inception in 2002.
Janus Goes For Distribution Expertise The board of the Janus Funds has nominated John Cammack and John McGonigle to replace Martin Waldinger and John McCarter when they hit the mandatory retirement age at the end of the year after serving 17 and eight years on the board, respectively. The new director candidates were chosen for their backgrounds in the distribution side of the business, said William McCalpin, independent chair. The board recently approved a change in the distribution from no-load to advisor-based funds (FD, November). After 18 years at T. Rowe Price, Cammack retired as the head of the company's third-party distribution. McGonigle retired four years ago as executive v.p. of mutual fund administration at Charles Schwab & Co., where he helped build out the company's third-party distribution platform. As part of the succession planning, the two candidates would join the board before the retirements in order to provide for a smooth transition. In June, shareholders will also be asked to re-elect the incumbent board.
The board of the OneAmerica Funds has brought on James Isch, interim head of the NCAA, to replace Lowell Short, who resigned in July after taking a job with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis.
Interested trustee James Stowers has resigned from the Kansas City board of the American Century funds.
William McNabb is slated to take over as chairman of the Vanguard Funds January 1, succeeding long-time chairman John Brennan.
The board of trustees of the Natixis Funds, Loomis Sayles Funds and Hansberger International Series has brought on two trustees, replacing Charles Baker who resigned and growing the size of the board in anticipation of the retirement of Edward Benjamin next year.
The newly formed board of Charles Schwab's first exchange-traded funds is made up of three independent trustees-- Robert Burns, Mark Goldfarb and Charles Ruffel--and one interested trustee--Walter Bettinger, Schwab's president and ceo.
Michael Seely has become independent chair of the HSBC Investor Funds.
After about five years without a new director, the board of Franklin Mutual Series Funds has added three new members.
The newly formed Impax Asian Environmental Markets fund has appointed Allan McKenzie, former Blackrock coo, as independent chair and Allan Barber, Terence Mahony and Simon Atiyah round out the closed-end fund's board.
The Independent Directors Council appointed four new members to its Governing Council in October. Alfred Osborne, of FPA Funds; Gary Moody, of AllianceBernstein Funds; George Sullivan, of SEI Funds; and Jonathan Zeschin, of Dividend Capital Funds, join the existing 28-member board.
The board of the Vanguard Funds has bumped its size back up to ten members with the appointment of a new independent director.
Two long-time directors of the board of Diamond Hill Financial Trends Fund retired this past month in order to help keep expenses down.
The Natixis Funds has made some new appointments to its board and committees.
The board for the Federated Investments funds has added an independent director after the departures of three long term directors earlier this year.
Janus Capital Group has appointed Tim Armour, a director, to replace Gary Black, who resigned in July, as ceo.
Dennis Johnson has retired as an independent director of the Advance Capital funds after about eight years.
Citi has launched a Fund Governance Portal for mutual fund directors, compliance personnel and executives.
Abigail Johnson is slated to take over as chair at Fidelity Investments for the fixed-income and asset allocation funds next month – replacing her father, Ned Johnson III who plans to resign from the board.
Fidelity Investments is planning to bring on Michael Keanneally as an independent director this July to fill the gap left by a mandatory retirement.
The board of the Toronto-based Davis + Henderson Income Fund has added a trustee with background in the U.S. financial services sector.
John Hancock Financial Services has named James Boyle president of the firm, replacing John DesPrez, who has become chief operating officer at John Hancock's Toronto-based parent Manulife Financial Corp.
The board for the Federated Investments funds bumped independent director Thomas O'Neill into its audit committee last month to replace Thomas Bigley, who retired March 31.
The Thompson Plumb funds elected a new independent chair earlier this year, bumping up long-time director Donald Nichols to lead the board.
The Thrivent Funds board is planning to add two directors with financial backgrounds in May to fills the gaps left by a retirement and resignation.