The first-ever female chief of Lord Abbett [profile] is retiring this spring, and she's passing the reins to another executive from the distribution side of the business, not to an investment executive.

Daria Foster, managing partner of the Jersey City, New Jersey-based asset manager, confirmed yesterday that she plans to retire on March 31 and that Doug Sieg will take her place on April 1. Foster also serves as president and CEO of the Lord Abbett Family of Funds, though there is no word yet on who will succeed her in that role. Sieg also serves on the funds' board.

P&I also reported on the leadership change at Lord Abbett.

Sieg currently serves as the employee-owned asset manager's partner in charge of client services. He oversees all of distribution, including: U.S. retail, U.S. institutional, international investor services, product and market strategy, and corporate communications. There is no word yet on how Sieg's current duties will be handled.

Daria Lo Presti Foster, an alumna of Gettysburg College, worked at Chase, Marine Midland Bank, Irving Trust, and the Chemical Investment Group before joining Lord Abbett in 1990 as director of fixed-income marketing. She rose to director of global client services (similar to Sieg's current title) in 2005, and in 2007 she became managing partner of the whole firm, the ninth in Lord Abbett's history. She revealed her planned retirement internally at the firm's quarterly partners' meeting on January 18.

"Daria intensified our focus on the issues that made us better every day," Sieg states. "She shaped and transformed Lord Abbett into a strategically driven, professionally managed, investment-led organization and has done so in a thoughtful, deliberate, and caring way."

Douglas Bloom Sieg joined Lord Abbett in 1994, two years after graduating from Penn State. He started as a regional manager Florida, then rose to Western division sales manager, to director of marketing and relationship management and partner in 2001, to head of firmwide marketing in 2005, to head of product management and development in 2007, and to head of client services in 2013. He will be the tenth managing partner to lead Lord Abbett. And Sieg is not the only senior industry executive in his family; his brother Andy Sieg rose to head of BofA's Merrill Lynch Wealth Management last year.

"Having worked closely with Doug for over fifteen years, I know he has the intelligence, energy, creativity, and determination to successfully steer the firm forward," Foster states.

The 89-year-old firm had $160.4 billion in AUM as of January 22, 2018. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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