Monday, October 26, 2020

Business
Wellington appointment of its first female CEO
is still a rarity in the fund management world
By Jon Chesto
Globe StaffW

hen Jean Hynes entered themoney management field nearly
30 years ago, she was drawn by
a curiosity about the factors that moved
stocks up and down, the reasons for themarket’s daily gyrations.
Her curious intellect paid off in spades
as she rose up the ranks during the past
three decades at Wellington Management
Co., a deliberately low-profile company
that has become one of the 15 biggest
asset managers in the world, with $1.1
trillion under management. But there’s
one thing she didn’t have at the time shejoined the Boston company, fresh out ofWellesley College: female role models.
Now Hynes is 51 and poised to be thefirst female chief executive in the firm’s
nearly 90-year history. Wellington announced last month that Hynes would
replace CEO Brendan Swords upon his
retirement at the end of June. She’ll oversee a workforce of about 2,700 employees,
including roughly 1,900 in Greater Boston.
“Wellington has been on a journey inthe last 10 years, being much more deliberate about diversity,” Hynes said. “I hope tocontinue that journey . . . when I’m CEO.”Part of that journey will involve actively supporting women and people of color
after they are hired, to ensure they stickaround, she said.
Hynes downplays the significance ofreaching such a high position in a field
whose top ranks remain dominated bymen. So do the people who know her: Theycite her proven investment acumen with
Wellington’s health care portfolio and herleadership skills, empathy, and humility as
reasons why Hynes is the logical choice totake over. (Her path toward the CEO rolebecame more likely in 2014, when she wasnamed one of three managing partners atthe firm.)

DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF“Diversity is an increasingly important topic forour clients. There’s increasingly data that shows thatdiversity of thought leads to better outcomes”
JEAN HYNES (above), soon-to-be chief executive, Wellington Management Co.
But it’s hard to miss the historic significance that Wellington will be led by awoman.
Even as recruitment efforts help draw
women into the lower rungs of the industry’s corporate ladders, the CEO jobs stilltend to go to men. One of the notable exceptions: Abigail Johnson became chief
executive at Boston-based Fidelity Investments, an even bigger fund manager than
Wellington, in 2014.
Hynes said one of her missions will
be to increase Wellington’s gender andracial diversity. More than one-third ofthe senior leaders are women. And about
20 percent of Wellington’s partners arewomen — an increase from 14 percent in2014, she said, but still not enough.
“Diversity is an increasingly importanttopic for our clients,” Hynes said. “There’sincreasingly data that shows that diversityof thought leads to better outcomes.”
Swords said he has noticed Hynes
stepping up to be that much-needed rolemodel for younger women at the firm, tofill the gap she faced when she started out.
That includes regularly taking a group offemale investors out to dinner, in the prepandemic days.
“It means a lot that they could have aninvestment dialogue with one of the giants
in our industry,” Swords said of Hynes’s out-PRINTED COPY FOR PERSONAL READING ONLY.
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ings. “They can ask her anything, including
about raising four daughters, and having
an intense job. . . . She is a great coach.”
Vanguard Group chief executive Tim
Buckley has worked alongside Hynes foryears; the index fund giant is one of Wellington’s biggest clients, a relationshipthat can be traced back to Vanguard’s
formation by former Wellington leader
Jack Bogle in the 1970s. Buckley praises
her decision-making skills and her deepindustry expertise. Biopharma executives have regularly called her for insightabout their business, he said.
Buckley said he notices the commitment to diversity at Wellington. “They
don’t want group-think,” Buckley said.
“Diversity isn’t just the right thing to dofor them. It’s to drive different ways ofthinking.”
There’s no question the mutual fundindustry still has some catching up todo. Part of the problem is that the portfolio management side of the business,an enduring feeder system for C-level
executives, remains largely the provinceof white men. Fund tracker Morningstar
reports that 14 percent of fund managerswere women at the end of 2000. By theend of 2019, that percentage remained thesame: 14 percent.
“In varying ways, firms are starting totackle this, but it certainly has not shown
up in the numbers, from what we can see
for portfolio managers,” said Sarah Bush,
who leads North American manager research at Chicago-based Morningstar.
“This isn’t limited to asset management,
but I think it’s pretty stark when you’restarting to look at the numbers we see inthe asset management industry.”

DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF“Wellington has been on a journey in the last 10 years, being much more deliberate
about diversity,” Hynes said.

Still, some progress has been madeamong the top ranks. Bush noted thatJohnson’s ascension at Fidelity has helped
lift other women at that company. She
also pointed to Jenny Johnson, who runs
Franklin Resources, and Mary Callahan
Erdoes, who oversees JPMorgan Chase’s
asset and wealth management business.
She also noted several smaller boutiquefirms that are led by women.
“It is absolutely encouraging to see awoman in charge [at Wellington],” Bushsaid. “I do think a lot of firms are taking
this seriously. I just think there’s a lot ofwork to be done.”
Hynes envisions Wellington tackling
more private equity investing, and anincreasing focus on environmental, social, and corporate governance funds,
particularly with regard to addressing
climate issues. Wellington, she said, will
also continue expanding its global reach,
hopefully adding to its 2,200 clients and
14 offices around the world. But mostly,
she wants to be a responsible stewardof the company, like the chief executives
who preceded her.
“I’ve spent 29 years here, my whole career,” Hynes said. “I want to give back inthe broadest possible way.”
Jon Chesto can be reached atjon.chesto@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter @jonchesto.

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