Fidelity Investment has new asset management head

Fidelity Investments on Thursday named a senior executive from Thomson Reuters Corp. as head of asset management, putting a leader whose main expertise is in financial services technology in charge of three of Fidelity's money management units, including its 450 mutual funds.

Michael Wilens will fill a newly created post at the nation's largest mutual fund company and also serve on the executive committee. The firm has been privately held since its 1946 founding by members of the Johnson family; the current CEO and chairman is 77-year-old Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III.

Observers said Wilens' appointment signals a gradual shift of management power away from Johnson family members and other longtime company insiders and underscores Fidelity's commitment to set itself apart from rivals by spending heavily on technology to help fund managers and individual customers choose the best investments.

"It's interesting that they appointed a non-Fidelity person to this job, and secondly, a non-investment management person to head up a group of investment managers," said Christopher Davis, lead Fidelity analyst at Morningstar Inc. "It seems at first glance to be more about choosing someone for their business acumen than their investment talent."

Boston-based Fidelity said Wilens will start in mid-July, reporting to Fidelity President Rodger Lawson, who oversaw a reorganization of Fidelity's far-flung financial services shortly after joining the 46,000-employee company last summer.

With Wilens' arrival, a single person will oversee three units now under the joint watch of Johnson and Lawson: Fidelity Management & Research Co., which functions as investment adviser to Fidelity's mutual funds; Pyramis Global Advisors, serving institutional investors such as corporate and public retirement funds; and Strategic Advisers, which provides investment advisory services.

Lawson said Fidelity sought "a highly experienced business leader who can offer in-depth management expertise and guidance to the executives directly in charge of our investment experts."

In addition to heading asset management, Wilens will direct Fidelity's investment technology and operations _ a role similar to the one he has recently filled at Thomson Reuters, where he has been on a seven-person executive committee. Wilens, who has academic degrees in computer science and electrical engineering, has focused on managing corporate technology, among other duties.

Thomson Corp. bought Reuters Group in April, creating a top financial news and professional information company. Before the transaction, Wilens served as executive vice president and chief technology officer at Thomson.

"It's very interesting that Fidelity hired someone who really doesn't come from a money management background," said Jim Lowell, a former Fidelity employee who runs the newsletter Fidelity Investor. "It would have been more par for the course to hire someone who had held a position at someplace like Merrill Lynch."

Fidelity has come under intense competitive pressure in recent years from rivals such as Vanguard Group and Capital Group's American Funds to attract investor money. While Fidelity reported in February that its 2007 pretax profit grew 20 percent to nearly $2.2 billion, the company continued to have problems holding on to customers for its equity funds, with investors pulling out $18 billion last year.

Lowell said the hiring of an outsider for a key Fidelity executive post is in line with recent moves by Fidelity to assign less influence to the Johnson family.

Family members hold 49 percent of Fidelity's voting stock, with the rest held by key employees _ a structure criticized last fall by Moody's Investors Service, which questioned whether Ned Johnson and his family wield too much power. Moody's also said unresolved questions about a successor to Johnson and other recent management changes have created uncertainty that could hurt Fidelity's efforts to draw top talent.