Abigail Johnson just landed near the top of another list. On Wednesday, Forbes highlighted the Fidelity vice chair's fortune, estimating her worth at about $8.5 billion and placing her eighth on the publication's list of the world's 100 richest women.

Earlier this month, Abby took over Fidelity's board governing the fixed-income and asset-allocation funds (See MFWire 6/2/2009). She now oversees 161 funds which hold more than $650 billion in assets.

As president of Fidelity Personal and Workplace Investing, Abby is in charge of running the retail group, which is the firm's largest division holding $1.3 trillion in assets. Forbes' Steven Bertoni writes that, "like the majority of the female billionaires in the world, Johnson inherited her fortune-- yet still holds tremendous sway over her company".

The question of Ned Johnson's retirement plans continues to linger. A spokesman for Fidelity declined to comment to Forbes on the Fido chief's succession plans. Yet the spokesman said that moving Abby to her new role was "the next logical step in its strategy to split its board of trustees in half". 

Edited by: Ann Walker


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