Elevating Women at Fidelity

28 Nov 2018

CEO Abby Johnson addresses the industry-wide gender imbalance

Re: Abby Johnson (MBA 1988); Nidhi Gupta (MBA 2008)

Topics: Demographics-Gender Human Resources-Recruitment Leadership-Leading Change Demographics-Women

Photo by Susan Young

In the wake of sexual harassment allegations at Fidelity, Abby Johnson (MBA 1988) has stepped up a concerted effort to promote women within the 72-year-old firm, according to Bloomberg.

"A year ago Fidelity came under media scrutiny after it dismissed a prominent stock picker who had been accused of sexual harassment by a junior female employee. While the firm had named women to leadership positions and fund management roles before the misconduct allegations, the incident spurred Johnson to look even more closely at female talent for promotions."

In 2018, about 30 percent of the fund manager appointments in the company’s stock group went to women—the high-water mark of the last five years. Among the handful of women tapped to manage portfolios in excess of $1 billion, Nidhi Gupta (MBA 2008) was elevated to manage $7.8 billion in tech assets.

Johnson continues to improve the imbalance by identifying talent from within and expanding the firm’s recruiting efforts at colleges and universities.

In an effort to shake up Fidelity’s “cliquey culture,” Bloomberg reports that Johnson moved her office to be near the money managers on the 11^th floor and required them to go through unconscious-bias training.

And yet she acknowledges that much work remains to be done: The percentage of men who manage funds—86—still far overshadows that of women.