MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication
an InvestmentWires' Publication
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MutualFundWire.com
The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication |
|
Wednesday, May 6, 2020 How the MF World Has Changed Since 2006 The mutual fund world looks pretty different from when Susan Ferris Wyderko joined the Mutual Fund Directors Forum (MFDF) in 2006.
Wyderko is preparing to retire and pass the reins at MFDF. In a recent interview with MFWire, she reflected on her 14-year tenure at the trade group, which represents independent mutual fund directors. She joined MFDF as executive director in 2006, when it was "a very small and struggling organization." (She rose to president and CEO in 2012.) "We pulled together a board of fantastic directors," Wyderko said, crediting the fund director community for its support. "It wasn't abundantly clear at the time that the forum would take off." Since then, MFDF and its members have "pulled together and really buckled down," Wyderko said, adding that the community has "intentionally become much more professional." Across the industry, Wyderko noted that new kinds of funds and share classes (like clean shares) have launched, retirement accounts like 401(k)s have continued to grow and importance. And through it all, many of the giants have gotten bigger, and passive been on the rise. There's been a "vast increase in index funds and ETFs, partly in response to investors' desire for lower fees," she said. "Fee compression obviously has been a challenge for many funds," Wyderko said, adding that there's been "increased concentration of assets into fewer fund complexes as well." Meanwhile, Wyderko said, "there have been enormous changes in the fund independent director community," including: "vastly increased professionalism, ... an increase in appetite for education," and some increased diversity. "The vast majority of the fund director population has become more educated, more attuend to the challenges of doing well for fund shareholders," Wyderko said. As for diversity, Wyderko said she's seen improvements in gender diversity and an "increase in diversity of skillsets around the table" in the fund director community, though she still sees a ways to go in terms of ethnic diversity. "At the same time, there has been a huge increase in regulatory interest in boards and directors and how they protect shareholder interests, putting new responsibility on fund independent directors," Wyderko said. "That has been incremental." Wyderko also praised the "good progress" being made in the SEC's division of investment management under Dalia Blass, who launched a board outreach project and more recently responded to the ongoing coronavirus crisis by allowing boards to meet electronically. (Wyderko herself led the division before joining MFDF.) Over the years, the MFDF team has released white papers, written to regulators, hosted in-person events, and of course regularly met and talked with those members. They've also launched a fund independent director candidate database, and they've launched a webinar series that, Wyderko said, "took off within a few years." "We rarely have webinars with under 100 people signing up," Wyderko said, adding that it's been "fantastic to watch that program evolve and change and grow." All of MFDF's member events and meetings have been "truly the most fun" part of her work, Wyderko said. "Our members are very interesting people, very well-educated," Wyderko said. Now, Wyderko is preparing to move from the Washington, D.C. area (where MFDF is based) back to Lafayette, Indiana, where she grew up. "The next chapter is entitled retirement, and I'm going to see how that works," Wyderko said. Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=61267 Copyright 2020, InvestmentWires, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
