Abigail johnson biography

American billionaire and businesswoman

Abigail Pierrepont Johnson^[1] (born December 19, ) is an American billionaire businesswoman and the granddaughter of tardy Edward C.

Johnson II, the founder of Fidelity Investments.^[2] Since , Johnson has been president and chief executive officer (CEO) of American investment firm Fidelity Investments (FMR),^[3] and chair of its former sister company Fidelity International (FIL).

Fidelity was founded by her grandfather Edward C. Johnson II. Her father, Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III, remained chair emeritus of FMR until his death in March As of March , the Johnson family owned a 49% stake in the privately-held company, with Johnson herself holding an estimated %.^[4][5] She is a board member of Breakthrough Energy Ventures.^[6]

In November , Johnson was named chair and remained CEO and president, giving her full direct of Fidelity with 45, employees worldwide.^[7] As of June Johnson's wealth is approximately $ billion,^[8] making her one of the world's wealthiest women.

She was named on Forbes' "The Richest Person In America's 50 Largest Cities" list in , and as of , has been ranking among the top ten most powerful women of the world continuously since on their "World's Most Powerful Women" list.^[9] She has been the richest person in Massachusetts since at least ^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][excessive citations]}

Early life

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts^[20] on December 19, Johnson and her younger siblings did not touch pressured to join the family business.

As a child Johnson was attracted to her father’s work.^[21] Johnson attended Cambridge, Massachusetts private school Buckingham Browne & Nichols School and then graduated from William Smith College with a bachelor's degree in art history in ^[22] After operational as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she met her husband, Johnson completed an MBA at Harvard Business School.^[4][1][23]

Fidelity Investments

Upon graduating from Harvard Business School in , Johnson unified Fidelity Investments, which her grandfather Edward Johnson II founded in ^[4] and of which her father Edward Johnson III was then the CEO.

She began as an analyst and portfolio manager.^[4] In , she was promoted to president of Fidelity Asset Management. During her period in that position, Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to orchestrate a vote to remove her father as CEO over disagreements about his business decisions.^[24] In , she became Head of Retail, Workplace, and Institutional Business.

She was named president in In , she became CEO,^[25] and in she became chairman as well.^[4] In , Johnson introduced cryptocurrency investment at Fidelity, making it possible for institutional investors to trade Bitcoin and Ether.^[4]

Politics

In , Johnson donated $2,, the maximum amount legally allowed for presidential primary campaigns, to Republican candidate Jeb Bush.^[26] In , she donated about $, to Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.^[27]

Awards and honors

Johnson has served as a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation and as a member of the board of directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and of MIT.^[28] She is the first and only woman to serve on the board of the Financial Services Forum.^[29]

Forbes has ranked Johnson among the most powerful women in the nature for several years:

Johnson was ranked 13th on Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in ^[33] In , American Banker recognized Johnson as the No.

2 Most Powerful Woman in Finance.

See also

References