Vanguard Investments’ Duffield retires

Vanguard Investments Australia’s chairman and managing founder, Jeremy Duffield, will retire at the end of the year.

According to a Vanguard statement, Duffield announced his retirement after recently reaching his 30-year service milestone, during which time he oversaw the growth of Vanguard Australia from a one-man startup to a funds management business managing more than $80 billion.

Duffield stated that it was “the right time to move on with another phase of my life” and he was confident that the Australian business was in great hands.

“There are some exciting growth opportunities ahead as a result of the proposed regulatory changes to our superannuation and financial planning industries,” he said.

Vanguard chief executive William McNabb described Duffield as a true pioneer.

“He was an architect of our retail strategy in the US in Vanguard’s early days, the trailblazer of our international efforts with the establishment of our Australian operations, and the foundation-builder for our further expansion to new areas around the globe,” he said.

Duffield is currently a director of Plum Financial Service and a member of the Australia Financial Centre Task Force. He previously served on the Investment and Financial Services Association Limited as deputy chairman, on the Federal Government's Financial Sector Advisory Council, and on the Advisory Board of the Financial Literacy Foundation.