Abby Johnson
Abby Johnson is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Investments. Under her leadership, Fidelity has embraced a more innovative and aggressive investing style. She managed and facilitated the implementation of technology initiatives in the investment organization, representing the portfolio managers in the development of new systems. She boosted revenue and operating income, even after eliminating all fees for online trades since the beginning of the pandemic. Johnson has also positioned Fidelity to attract younger and more women investors and staff.
Abby Johnson Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
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Chief Executive Officer
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President
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Head of Retail, Workplace and Institutional Business
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President, Fidelity Asset Management
Academic History
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Master of Business Administration (MBA)
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BA in Art History
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
- Chairman of Fidelity International
- President of Fidelity Employer Services Company
- Member of the Fidelity Management Committee
- Director of FMR Corp.
EARLY LIFE AND CAREER
- Johnson is the granddaughter of Edward C. Johnson II, the Founder of Fidelity Management and Research.
- In 1977, her father, Edward C. Johnson III, took over Fidelity Investments, one of the leading financial management companies during the stock market boom of the 1980s and 1990s.
- She landed her first job at Fidelity Investments after she finished high school in 1980, tasked to answer phone calls in the customer relationship department.
- After graduating from HBS, she worked as a stock analyst at Fidelity Investments and was initially assigned to the Select Industrial Equipment Fund division.
- She was promoted to Portfolio Manager within a few years and established herself as an able fund supervisor after achieving remarkable results for Fidelity.
- In 1995, her father divested a large share of his voting rights and handed them to the parent company FMR. Many experts predicted that this move was done due to his confidence in his daughter’s abilities to succeed him as the company’s chairman.
- In May 2001, Fidelity announced that she was going to be the President of Fidelity’s Mutual Funds Division. Her promotion made her the third most powerful individual in her company, after her own father and the company’s CEO.
LEADERSHIP STYLE
- Experts noticed a contrast between her management style and that of her father's.
- While her father believed in small, incremental growth, she believed in a mix of incremental growth as well as sporadic acquisitions.
- After she took over, Fidelity allowed its portfolio managers to buy and sell aggressively in the open market.
- Unlike their competitors, Fidelity did not follow any stock market indices. She encouraged the managers to be even more aggressive with their acquisition strategies.