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Former Fidelity Executive Replaces MFS Chairman

By Staff Writer

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Feb. 9, 2004 — MFS Investment Management, which last week agreed to settle fraud charges with regulators, said today that Jeffrey Shames retired as chairman and was replaced by former Fidelity Investments executive Robert Pozen.

Pozen was vice chairman of Fidelity, the nation’s largest fund company, and was president of Fidelity Management & Research Co., which runs the company’s mutual funds. He is also the author of a widely used textbook on the fund industry and has served as a lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shames’ retirement comes just four days after MFS’ chief executive officer, John W. Ballen, and the firm’s president and chief investment officer, Kevin J. Parke, were barred from holding top level positions in the fund industry for three years for allegedly allowing investors to rapidly buy and sell shares of 11 MFS funds, in violation of company policy.

MFS named Robert Manning chief executive and chief investment officer when it agreed to pay $350 million to settle charges over improper fund trading.

Shames said in a statement that he had delayed retiring until the settlement was reached. He said he originally planned to step down at the end of last year to spend more time with his family “and to pursue other interests.” Shames had been with the company for 21 years. He became chairman in 1998.

MFS, a unit of Sun Life Financial Services of Canada Inc., manages about $140 billion in assets.