Brian Rogers, chairman and chief investment officer of T. Rowe Price [profile], is about to retire after nearly 35 years with the company. Six T. Rowe investment leaders will fill his shoes.

This morning the board of directors of the Baltimore-based mutual fund shop confirms that Rogers will retire on March 31, 2017. Yet Rogers will stay on as non-executive chair of T. Rowe.

Brian Rogers T. Rowe Price Chairman of the Board and Chief Investment Officer

Meanwhile, in place of Rogers (age 61), T. Rowe will have six CIOs: group CIO Rob Sharps (45), U.S. equity growth CIO Henry Ellenbogen (43), U.S. equity multi-discipline CIO David Giroux (41), U.S. equity value CIO John Linehan (51), international equity CIO Justin Thomson (48), and fixed income CIO Mark Vaselkiv (58). (T. Rowe's statement notes that the firm does not have a "house view" for its PMs.)

Five of the new CIOs (all save Sharps) will continue on with their current PM duties. Sharp will step down as PM of T. Rowe's U.S. large-cap growth equity strategy on December 31 and become co-head of global equity on January 1, alongside international equity chief Chris Alderson. Sharp will also join T. Rowe's management committee.

Lead independent director Ann Marie Whittemore praises Rogers as being "responsible for helping the firm maintain its strong financial discipline through multiple market cycles, including the global financial crisis, and for guiding the Board's commitment to diversity." President and CEO William Stromberg adds that Roger's "impact on [T. Rowe] will be long-lasting."

"Brian has brought an uncommon measure of common sense to our investment process and has made remarkable contributions as an investor, senior executive, and Board member," Stromberg states.

"I am extremely confident that the firm will continue to operate from a position of strength, and I look forward to continuing to support our growth and the execution of our strategic priorities."

Rogers, an alumnus of Harvard twice over, joined T. Rowe in 1982 as a PM. He spent 30 years PMing the firm's U.S. large-cap equity income strategy and its Equity Income Fund, from inception in 1985. He also was the launch PM of the U.S. value equity strategy and Value Fund from 1994 to 2003, and he was a launch PM on the U.S. large-cap value equity strategy from 2000 to 2015. He has served on T. Rowe's board since 1997 and on its management committee since 2003. He has chaired T. Rowe's board since 2007.

Sharps, an alumnus of both Towson University and the Wharton School at UPenn, joined T. Rowe in 1997 as an analyst specializing in financial services, and he joined the PM team in 2000.

Ellenbogen, a three-time alumnus of Harvard, joined T. Rowe in 2001 as an analyst covering media and telecoms. He was a PM on the Media and Telecommunications Fund from 2005 to 2009, and since 2010 he has been the lead PM on T. Rowe's U.S. small-cap growth equity strategy and its New Horizons Fund.

Giroux, an alumnus of Hillsdale College, joined T. Rowe in 1998 as an analyst covering industrials and the automotive sector. Since 2006 he has PMed the U.S. capital appreciation strategy and the Capital Appreciation Fund.

Linehan, an alumnus of both Amherst and Stanford, also joined T. Rowe in 1998. From 2003 to 2009 he PMed the U.S. value equity strategy and the Value Fund, and from 2009 to 2014 he led U.S. equity. He has co-PMed the U.S. large-cap value equity strategy since inception in 2000, and he has PMed the U.S. large-cap equity income strategy and the Equity Income Fund.

Thomson, an alumnus of Cambridge, also joined T. Rowe in 1998 and has been the lead PM of the international small-cap equity strategy and the International Discovery Fund ever since.

Vaselkiv, an alumnus of both Wheaton and NYU, joined T. Rowe in 1988 as an analyst covering high yield corporate credit. Since 1996 he has been the lead PM of the global high yield strategy and the High Yield Fund, and he has co-PMed the global high income strategy and the global high income bond fund since inception in 2015.

T. Rowe had $812.9 billion in AUM as of September 30. 

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