Vanguard has named Karin A. Risi, Vanguard Advice Services group principal, and Thomas M. Rampulla, Vanguard Europe managing director, to new roles on its senior leadership team.
The duo will report directly to Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb in their new role.
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Risi will head Vanguard’s Retail Investor Group, which provides mutual funds, financial planning and wealth management services, and brokerage services to Vanguard’s individual investor clients.
Vanguard’s largest division, the Retail Investor Group has $1.26tn in assets and serves more than six million clients.
Risi joined Vanguard in 1997 and has held various leadership roles within the company’s retail, institutional, and corporate divisions.
Risi started as an investment analyst in the Portfolio Review department and later moved to a role in Corporate Strategy.
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By GlobalDataShe also worked closely with financial advisor and institutional clients in management positions in Vanguard’s Financial Advisor Services division and Institutional Investor Group.
Over the past eight years, Risi has been working with Vanguard’s retail investors, first as a leader in the Flagship Services group and subsequently as the head of the Advice Services group, which provides Vanguard’s clients with investment advice and comprehensive financial planning consultations with Certified Financial Planner professionals.
Vanguard is currently piloting a new advice service – Personal Advisor Services – that it expects to be available in the second quarter.
Prior to joining Vanguard, she was an investor relations analyst with Sunoco.
"Karin’s leadership skills and deep experience in various client-service roles will be vitally important as we continue to seek to lower the cost and complexity of investing for individuals saving for retirement, college, and other goals. In particular, she will continue to focus on making investment advice more accessible and affordable to our clients in an effort to give them a better chance for long-term investment success," said McNabb.
Rampulla will direct Vanguard’s Financial Advisor Services division, which provides investments, services, education, and research to more than 1,000 financial advisory firms representing more than $1tn in assets.
For the past seven years, Rampulla has been responsible for the management of Vanguard’s UK and European businesses and is a member of Vanguard’s International leadership team.
Previously, he managed the distribution of Vanguard ETFs and mutual funds through Vanguard’s financial advisor partners in the United States. In that role, he was responsible for distribution, strategy, and client service.
Rampulla joined Vanguard in 1988 and has held various positions of increasing responsibility. He has worked in Vanguard’s Financial division, Fixed Income Group, and Institutional Sales and Marketing.
He also served as a portfolio manager with Vanguard’s Stable Value Management team.
McNabb added, "Vanguard’s Financial Advisor Services division is one of our fastest growing businesses, and Tom will bring his vast knowledge and understanding of the investment advisor industry to build on that momentum. Tom will continue to focus on Vanguard’s efforts to promote the value of investment advice and to expand the use of Vanguard’s low-cost ETFs and mutual funds among our advisor clients."
Risi and Rampulla join the 11-member team responsible for leading Vanguard and its operations.
Over the course of the next several months, Risi will transition into her new role, replacing Paul A. Heller, managing director of the Retail Investor Group, who plans to retire at year-end after 31 years with the firm.
Rampulla will succeed Martha G. King, managing director of Financial Advisor Services, who is taking a new role directing the Vanguard Institutional Investor Group.
Chris D. McIsaac, Managing Director of the Institutional Investor Group, will assume Michael S. Miller’s position as managing director of Vanguard’s Planning & Development division. Miller, who joined Vanguard in 1996, is retiring, effective mid-year.
