Mutualfunds.com founder Bruce Speca has finally landed at Pioneer Investment Management. Speca fills the role of senior managing director and head of marketing, a position which has been open since William Poulin's departure from the firm last fall.

Speca had been president and ceo of New England Funds (Nvest), which funded the failed Web site. While some of the mutualfunds.com staff had ended up at American Skandia, PFPC, and FundQuest, Speca himself had slipped off the radar until his reappearance at Pioneer.

Speca reports to Steve Graziano, president of Pioneer Funds Distributor, who has insisted that Pioneer will maintain its pedal-to-the-metal marketing stance, despite market-induced potholes.

"We're delighted that Bruce has come to Pioneer," said Graziano in a statement. "He has proven leadership and management experience and a deep knowledge of the fund business. We expect these attributes will greatly assist Pioneer in meeting its aggressive goals."

Given Pioneer's penchant for Internet technology, such as the bots on its Web site, Speca's e-xperience coincides with the firm's outlook. Speca will take his lessons from the school of hard knocks to heart and wend Pioneer around the pitfalls of Internet overexuberance.

"It can't be a strategy by itself," he explained. "We have to be careful we're not investing in technology for the sake of technology."

While technology will continue to play a role in Pioneer's marketing effort, Speca is responsible for the broad swath of marketing duties. What does he have up his sleeve?

"There are some new products we're lookin at, joint ventures we're looking at, and reinforcing our advertising," said Speca. "It's a matter of taking some of the processes here and refining them."

Related stories:

One Less at FundQuest , 4/26/01

On the Lookout, Jan. 9, 2001

MutualFunds.com Shutters, Nov. 13, 2000

MutualFunds.com Plants For Sale Sign, Sep. 29, 2000

Nvest to Leverage MutualFunds.com, Feb. 14, 2000


Other Links:

Mutualfunds.com 

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