Bold move as The Mutual Fund Store snags TD's Bunch

John Bunch, who is leaving as head of TD Ameritrade's individual investor business, will be joining The Mutual Fund Store next week as chief executive officer. Mr. Bunch will start his new job on Tuesday, said Adam Bold, founder of The Mutual Fund Store, who will become chairman. Plans are to open another 100 offices over the next three years, on top of the existing 80 outlets. Mr. Bunch will help manage that growth. "I haven't run a company of this size before," Mr. Bold said. Mr. Bunch, who also ran a branch network for Charles Schwab Corp., has overseen organizations of that size, Mr. Bold said. "With John, he understands the corporate culture here, and his management style is the same as what I fostered here," which is a flat hierarchy where employees are included in decisions. The Mutual Fund Store targets households with $50,000 to $500,000 in assets, an audience Mr. Bold feels has been abandoned by the larger firms. It offers research and portfolios of mutual funds and ETFs. Together with its franchisees, the firms advises on $6.5 billion for clients. In an interview, Mr. Bunch said he was attracted to The Mutual Fund Store's "unique business model" and its plans for growth of its branch network. "Another big piece, for me, is that Adam is focusing on a market that is the most underserved, and in the 22 years since I started with [the Charles Schwab Corp.], it's been my passion to help investors," Mr. Bunch said. Marketing has been done primarily through Mr. Bold's widely distributed radio show that runs Saturday mornings. One thing Mr. Bunch will do is look "at other things to do to diversify our lead flow," Mr. Bold said. Last year, Mr. Bold sold a majority a stake in his company to private equity firm Warburg Pincus. The hire of Mr. Bunch "was certainly something [Warburg was] involved in," Mr. Bold said. "It's important to be bigger, and we needed to expand the management team to support that. [Warburg] has given us the ability to really start building resources to execute" that expansion. The fact that Warburg "is a world-class private equity firm" made the new job attractive, Mr. Bunch said. Due to Mr. Bunch's resignation from TD Ameritrade, Tom Bradley, head of its custody unit, is moving into the top retail spot. Tom Nally, the former head of institutional sales, is taking over the custody business for Mr. Bradley. Mr. Bunch said his departure had nothing to do with TD Ameritrade or his career prospects there.