Robert Pozen is gone at Fidelity. Taking his place is Abigail P. Johnson, daughter of CEO Edward Johnson. The firm announced the news of the change this afternoon in a release. The changes become effective June 15, 2001.

The announcement said that Pozen is leaving Fidelity to "spend time on social policy and personal interests."

Abigail Johnson is taking the title of president at Fidelity Management & Research Company which was a position formerly held by Pozen. She will have responsibility for all Fidelity portfolio managers, analysts and traders in Boston and become a member of the company's Operating Committee, and report to Robert L. Reynolds, vice chairman and chief operating officer.

Pozen is 54 years old, he had held the president title for the past four years and was considered to be a potential heir to Ned Johnson by many observers.

"Abby is a 14-year Fidelity veteran and is fully prepared to take on the leadership of FMR Co.," said Edward Johnson. "She has the appropriate skills and experience, she knows the Fidelity organization and culture as well as anyone, and she will enhance this company's long tradition of investment management excellence."

The elder Johnson explained that Pozen's departure resulted from his wide interests outside of Fidelity.

"When Bob Pozen had an opportunity to go to Washington in 1997 to work in the Clinton Administration, I asked him to stay and take over the running of our fund business for a few years. He has more than fulfilled his commitment, and done an outstanding job serving our investment organization for the past four years," said Johnson.

"Bob is a man of wide and divergent interests, and I'm not surprised after a successful run here that he would want to spend more time pursuing some of these interests. He has done a great job serving Fidelity throughout his 14-year career at the company, both as general counsel and while he has been the head of our investment management organization, during which Fidelity's managed assets climbed more than 75% from $518 billion to more than $900 billion. He has been instrumental in dozens of key initiatives at the company, including setting up our business in Canada and launching our yen-denominated mutual funds in Japan."

"I've done what I set out to do in 1997, and I'm pleased with the results," said Pozen. "Things are running very well inside the investment arm of the company, and now is the right time for me to pass the baton to a new generation of leadership, and return to a broader agenda of personal interests."

Pozen said that in addition to working on strategic Fidelity projects during the remainder of the year, he will be participating on the President's Commission on Social Security, to which he recently was appointed, and producing a second edition of his textbook, The Mutual Fund Business. "Upon leaving Fidelity at the end of the year," Pozen continued, "I intend to teach part-time at Harvard, serve as an outside director of publicly traded companies and pursue other interests."  

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