The investment management house is to get a new CEO at the start of next year.

Vanguard, the US investments titan with $4.4 trillion of assets under management, has named a new chief executive in the form of Tim Buckley, who takes over from Bill McNabb at the start of 2018.

Buckley is currently chief investment officer. His appointment makes him the fourth CEO since Vanguard was established in 1975.

Although McNabb is stepping down as CEO, he will remain as chairman of the board of directors. Greg Davis, global head of Vanguard’s Fixed Income Group, has been appointed chief investment officer, the firm said in a statement yesterday. 

Buckley takes the helm at a time when Vanguard continues to be associated in many ways with its role as provider of passive index funds, which have tended to benefit from their low-cost status at the expense of actively-managed portfolios. (Vanguard does offer active funds.)

Since Buckley joined Vanguard in 1991, he has held senior leadership roles in two divisions including chief information officer and head of Vanguard’s information technology division, and head of Vanguard’s retail investor group. He has been a member of Vanguard’s senior leadership team since 2001 and is a long-tenured member of Vanguard’s global investment committee; which has oversight responsibilities for Vanguard’s in-house equity and fixed income management functions, as well as the 27 external investment advisory firms employed by Vanguard.

“As the firm continues to grow, evolve and expand globally, it is the right time for a new leader and the board is unanimous in its belief that Tim Buckley is the ideal next chief executive for Vanguard. I have worked alongside Tim for many years and he brings a strong passion for serving Vanguard clients and crew, a global mind-set, and significant leadership experience in all facets of our operations,” McNabb said. 

Davis has led Vanguard’s fixed income group since 2014, and previously served as the company’s Asia-Pacific chief investment officer, and a director of Vanguard Investments Australia. 
As chief investment officer Davis will be responsible for more than $3.8 trillion managed by Vanguard’s fixed income, equity index, and quantitative equity groups. The more than 300 mutual funds and ETFs managed by these groups include active and index stock, active and index fixed income, money market, and stable value mandates.