(Bloomberg News) Fidelity Investments resolved the long-running question over its succession plan by naming Abigail P. Johnson president, putting the daughter of Chairman Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III in charge of the key businesses at the second-largest mutual-fund company in the U.S.

Abigail Johnson, 50, will oversee asset management, retail and institutional brokerage, retirement and benefits services, the Boston-based firm said yesterday in a statement. While she will report to her father, who remains Fidelity's chief executive officer, the appointment makes her arguably the most powerful woman in the $12.2 trillion fund industry.

Johnson is now the clear successor to 82-year-old Ned Johnson as the company founded by her grandfather in 1946 struggles with the move by an increasing number of investors away from actively managed funds. The younger Johnson has outlasted several senior executives who were seen as candidates to lead the family-controlled firm run by her father for 35 years.

"It really does suggest she's not simply adding more reins but about to take the reins of Fidelity itself," James Lowell, editor of Fidelity Investor, an independent newsletter in Needham, Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview.

Ned Johnson, known for avoiding the public spotlight, had kept investors, employees and the media guessing as to who would take over in the event of his retirement or death. At various times, Robert L. Reynolds, a former chief operating officer, and Ellyn McColgan, a former head of mutual-fund sales, had been considered possible leaders at the firm.

"I had the top job at Fidelity, but not the top job," Reynolds said in a 2008 interview. "And when I asked my parents, they wouldn't let me change my name to Johnson."

Reynolds, now president and chief executive officer of Boston-based Putnam Investments LLC, today said Abigail Johnson's appointment was "well deserved and about time."

2010 Split

Ned Johnson split control of the firm in May 2010, naming his daughter head of all client-focused businesses and hiring Ronald O'Hanley from Bank of New York Mellon Corp. as head of asset management. O'Hanley, who continues to oversee asset management, will report to Abigail Johnson, Fidelity said today.

Johnson, who started her career at Fidelity in 1988 as a mutual-fund manager, has worked in almost every major division at the company. She was named head of the firm's mutual-fund unit in 2001 and put in charge of Fidelity's retirement business in 2005. In 2007, the company also gave her oversight of corporate-retirement services and fund sales to individuals.

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