Rodger Lawson is asserting his presidential powers with a new re-organization at Fidelity. Ross Kerber, king of internal Fidelity memos at the Boston Globe, reports that Abby Johnson will be the big beneficiary of the move. In addition to her current work at the company's Marlborough, Massachusetts division , Abby will now also oversee the retail sales of mutual funds and brokerage accounts.

In said memo, Lawson presented the re-org as necessary to better integrate Fidelity's operations, saying, "We can - and will - take better advantage of our brand's great power to drive Fidelity fund sales, brokerage and every other business we are in." He also indicated that he (and, since nothing goes on without Ned Johnson's approval, Ned, too) believes that Abby is up to the new tasks given to her, writing, "It's a huge piece of business and requires some substantial integration. It is the guts of the company and Abby has already demonstrated her ability to handle this type of integration from her work with Retirement Services and HR Services in FESCo."

The new moves at Fidelity seem to be concentrating the power of the top executives who "retired" this year in the hands of Abby. Ellyn McColgan was the head of Fidelity's brokerage business and her duties were taken over in the interim by Rodger Lawson. (See "Another Unexpected Departure From Fidelity", MFWire, August 7, 2007.) Now Abby has those duties.

And in January of this year, Stephen Jonas, the head of Fidelity's investment management division, retired. Jonas had taken over that division from Abby in May of 2005. Now things have come full circle, with Abby once again heading up the investment division. (See "Jonas Leaving Fidelity", The 401kWire, January 9, 2007, separate login required.)

Could all these changes be the results of the secret Cape Cod meeting between Ned and Abby that the MFWire reported on in August? ("Is Fidelity Entering a New Era?", MFWire, August 21, 2007.) It seems like Abby is gaining more stature within the company, just as she and Ned purportedly agreed to on their Cape Cod trip.  

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