Fidelity tabs money market chief to run bond operations

Fidelity Investments, the second- biggest U.S. mutual-fund company, appointed Robert P. Brown president of its bond unit to replace Christopher Sullivan, who was named head of institutional fixed-income. Brown was previously president of money-market funds, Boston-based Fidelity said today in a statement. Nancy Prior, managing director of credit research, was appointed to Brown's former job, while David Hamlin was named head of research for fixed income, a new position, the company said. Fidelity's fixed-income unit, which manages $729 billion in assets, is expanding its bond leadership after opening new funds this year, including the Fidelity Conservative Income Bond fund and the Fidelity Defined Maturity Funds, a series of four municipal-bond offerings. All four executives named to new positions will report to Charles Morrison, president of fixed income. The new appointments will help Fidelity “seize global growth opportunities, while continuing to help us meet the evolving fixed-income needs of our institutional and retail clients,” Morrison said in today's statement. Sullivan, in his newly created role, will help Fidelity create products for institutional investors and help evaluate non-U.S. fixed-income strategies, according to the firm. Fidelity managed about $1.4 trillion in assets as of Sept. 30. --Bloomberg News--