T. Rowe Names William Stromberg CEO, Replacing Kennedy

By Pierre Paulden

May 06, 2015 at 10:03 AM

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T. Rowe Price Group Inc. (TROW) named William Stromberg, a 28-year veteran of the company, as chief executive officer to replace James A.C. Kennedy, who will step down at the end of this year.

Stromberg is currently head of global equity and global equity research at the Baltimore-based firm, according to a statement Wednesday. Kennedy will retire from T. Rowe in April 2016.

Kennedy, 61, has been with T. Rowe Price for 38 years, the last nine as CEO and president. He guided the money manager through the 2008 financial crisis without losses, helping it maintain its streak of reporting a profit every quarter since it went public in 1986.

Stromberg, 55, previously served as a money manager and has held a series of executive jobs at the firm overseeing equities. Eric Veiel, 43, director of equity research for North America, will become the head of U.S. equities as part of the transition, according to the firm.

T. Rowe Price managed $773 billion as of March 31. The shares rose 0.3% to $81.66 at 9:31 a.m. in New York. Before today, the shares declined 5.2% this year, compared with a gain of 1.7% for the 18-member Standard & Poor's index of asset managers and custody banks.

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