Brian Chappatta, Columnist

Vanguard’s New Bond Chief Is Going on the Offensive

In a Q&A, her first media interview since taking over, Sara Devereux explains why she’s looking to press the investing giant’s advantage over competitors in active fixed-income funds.

September 17, 2021 at 10:00 AM UTC

By Brian Chappatta

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

Sara Devereux says Vanguard’s goals are to help all investors. — Sara Devereux says Vanguard’s goals are to help all investors.
Photographer: Daniel Burke/Vanguard

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Given how frequently Sara Devereux emphasizes the importance of “alpha,” the last place you might expect she works is Vanguard Group Inc. After all, the $7.9 trillion asset manager founded by Jack Bogle is best known for making passive index funds mainstream — the exact opposite of trying to beat a benchmark.

Yet Devereux makes no secret of her plans to go on the offensive in active management as global head of Vanguard’s fixed-income group, a $2.1 trillion team she took over at the end of June after John Hollyer retired. When I spoke with Hollyer about Vanguard’s ambitions in early 2019, it had $413 billion in active bond funds. That figure has more than doubled to $1 trillion.