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October 01, 2026
Vanguard has announced two portfolio manager retirements, effective December 31, 2026. The planned transitions reflect the firm’s commitment to maintaining continuity in fund management for investors.
Michael Perre will retire after 36 years of distinguished service and will no longer serve as portfolio manager for nine Vanguard international funds. Joel P. Fried, PRIMECAP chairman and longtime portfolio manager, plans to retire following a distinguished 40-year career at PRIMECAP, including 33 years as a portfolio manager.
Both retirements represent planned succession events within established investment structures designed to mitigate key-person risk and ensure seamless transitions for investors.
Vanguard’s index strategies follow a disciplined, team-based approach that does not rely on any one individual. Existing co-portfolio managers will continue to provide expertise across all listed funds, while new portfolio managers will join to bring additional capabilities. This collaborative approach, focused on consistency, risk control, and long-term outcomes, ensures continuity and stability. The funds’ investment objectives, strategies, and policies will remain unchanged.
As part of our ongoing succession planning, Mr. Perre’s retirement has created opportunities for portfolio manager transitions for Vanguard international funds within the Global Equity Index team.
See more details about the funds affected by these changes.
Effective upon his retirement, Mr. Fried will step down as co-portfolio manager of the following funds:
PRIMECAP’s investment process distributes portfolio management responsibilities across multiple independently managed sleeves overseen by portfolio managers and financial analysts. As a result, when a portfolio manager retires, their responsibilities are absorbed by the existing investment team, allowing portfolio transitions to occur gradually and limiting the amount of assets affected at any one time. This structure has supported successful leadership transitions in the past and helps mitigate key-person risk.
PRIMECAP has previously executed successful succession transitions following the departures of co-founders Howard Schow in 2012 and Mitch Milias in 2013. In 2015, James Marchetti was named as a portfolio manager to the funds, reflecting the firm’s ongoing commitment to developing investment talent within this succession-friendly framework.
PRIMECAP has managed assets for Vanguard since 1984, making it Vanguard’s third-oldest active external manager relationship and, with approximately $150 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026, its second-largest. The funds’ investment objectives, strategies, and policies will remain unchanged.
Notes:
For more information about Vanguard funds and Vanguard ETFs, visit vanguard.com to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing. The fund's Board of Trustees designates the proportion of fund assets to be managed by each advisor and may change these proportions at any time.
Vanguard ETF Shares are not redeemable with the issuing Fund other than in very large aggregations worth millions of dollars. Instead, investors must buy and sell Vanguard ETF Shares in the secondary market and hold those shares in a brokerage account. 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.
All investing is subject to risk, including possible loss of principal.