Bob Reynolds and his team are preparing to say goodbye to a key Putnam [profile] leader who has served the asset manager for two decades.

William Tondorf Connolly, Jr. Putnam Investments Co-Head of Global Distribution, Head of Putnam Retail Management

Bill Connolly, co-head of global distribution and head of Putnam's U.S. retail and Japan businesses, will retire from the Boston-based mutual fund firm at the end of December, MFWire has learned. Connolly also serves on Putnam's operating committee.

"A successor to Bill is expected to be named in the coming weeks," Reynolds, president and CEO of Putnam, told Putnam employees recently via "A Note of Gratitude" (a copy of which was seen by MFWire).

Connolly joined Putnam in 1999 as managing director and national sales manager in the firm's retail sales division. In 2005, he rose to senior managing director and head of Putnam Retail Management, and in 2007 he rose to the newly created position of head of global distribution. Since 2015, Connolly has served as co-head of global distribution alongside the firm's global institutional management chief.

"Bill has brought tremendous leadership and dedication to advancing Putnam in the marketplace and helping to promote a 'One Putnam' culture of which we can all be proud," Reynolds wrote in his note to the Putnam team:

Bill has been an outstanding ambassador for Putnam with clients, associates, trustees and industry groups ... Bill has been a great friend and colleague to so many of us, and his drive, insights and humor will be missed.

An alumnus twice over of Dartmouth, Connolly entered the investment business in 1987 when he joined Merrill Lynch. He worked there for 12 years, in fixed income sales and then in institutional sales, before joining Putnam. 

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