Feb 22, 2013, 11:00am

Vanguard today announced five key investment management appointments as part of the firm's long-standing practice of periodically rotating members of its investment management teams to broaden their experience and provide them with new responsibilities.

“We have found that there are significant benefits to our clients and our crew when we offer our investment professionals the opportunity to broaden their skill set,” said Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Tim Buckley. “In addition to offering growth and development potential to individual portfolio managers, it also enables Vanguard to build an investment team that is deep, experienced, and globally oriented. Our world-class investment management teams, along with our low costs, are sources of a great competitive strength and contribute to competitive fund performance over time.”

Among the changes:

• Joseph Brennan, who served in Australia as the firm’s Asia Pacific chief investment officer (CIO) since 2009, will return to the United States to lead the Equity Index Group. Mr. Brennan, whose move was announced in Australia in November 2012, will oversee the investment professionals responsible for more than 80 U.S. and international equity index funds and ETFs, representing nearly $1 trillion in indexed assets. Prior to his Australian post, the 12-year Vanguard veteran managed the Portfolio Review Department, which selects investment advisory firms, monitors funds, and develops new products.
• Gregory Davis, head of the Bond Index Group since 2007, will assume the Asia Pacific CIO role, as also announced in November. Mr. Davis will head Vanguard Australia's team of investment professionals, who manage equity and fixed income portfolios available to Australian and Asian investors. Vanguard Australia has nearly USD $64 billion in assets under management.
• Josh Barrickman, a 14-year Vanguard veteran with more than ten years of experience in bond indexing portfolio management and trading, has assumed leadership of the Bond Index Group. He previously managed bond index funds with aggregate assets of $90 billion and led Vanguard’s bond ETF management process since the 2007 inception of fixed income ETF shares. With Mr. Davis’ new role, Mr. Barrickman has been named a manager or co-manager on 13 funds, including the flagship $115 billion Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund.

• John Ameriks, Ph.D, will oversee the Active Equity Group within the Equity Investment Group. Mr. Ameriks joined Vanguard’s Investment Counseling & Research Group (IC&R), which conducts investment research and helps to develop the firm’s investment advice methodology, in 2003. He assumed leadership of the group in 2008 and has been closely involved in the structure and implementation of several active and index investment products and strategies. The Active Equity Group manages $13 billion in quantitative equity fund assets, serving as investment advisor to Vanguard Strategic Equity Fund and Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity, as well as managing portions of 10 other Vanguard stock funds.
• Catherine Gordon, a veteran investment professional who created IC&R in 2001, will reassume leadership of this group, as well as help to lead Vanguard’s initiatives on advice methodology and focus on institutional investment thought leadership. Ms. Gordon previously directed Vanguard Institutional Advisory Services, which provides portfolio management and advisory services to defined benefit plans, endowments and foundations. In addition to her advisory and research leadership, Ms. Gordon, who joined Vanguard in 1994, spent several years with the Portfolio Review Department.

“We have full confidence in these tenured Vanguard investment leaders and their ability to assume new responsibilities,” Mr. Buckley said.

Separately, Vanguard announced new portfolio management assignments involving 15 equity funds, 11 fixed income funds, two balanced funds and the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund series.

The changes are effective with the filing today of prospectus amendments that detail the leadership and portfolio manager assignments. The funds’ investment philosophies, objectives, strategies, and overall portfolio management processes will remain the same.

About Vanguard

Vanguard, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is one of the world’s largest investment management companies and a leading provider of company-sponsored retirement plan services. Vanguard manages nearly $2.1 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets, including more than $260 billion in ETF assets. The firm offers more than 170 funds to U.S. investors and more than 70 additional funds in non-U.S. markets. For more information, visit vanguard.com.

All asset figures are as of January 31, 2013.

For more information on Vanguard funds, visit vanguard.com, or call 800-662-7447 to obtain a prospectus. Visit our website, call 800-662-7447, or contact your broker to obtain a prospectus for Vanguard ETF Shares. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing.

All investing is subject to risk, including possible loss of principal. Bond funds are subject to the risk that an issuer will fail to make payments on time, and that bond prices will decline because of rising interest rates or negative perceptions of an issuer's ability to make payments.

Vanguard ETF Shares are not redeemable with the issuing Fund other than in Creation Unit aggregations. Instead, investors must buy or sell Vanguard ETF Shares in the secondary market with the assistance of a stockbroker. In doing so, the investor may incur brokerage commissions and may pay more than net asset value when buying and receive less than net asset value when selling.

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