Board Ownership

Updated on July 10, 2024

Mutual fund directors are either not being paid nearly enough for what they should be doing—or far too much for what they actually do.
– Jack Bogle, SmartMoney, July 2012

Should Vanguard’s directors, who are tasked with watching over trillions of other people’s dollars, also invest their own hard-earned money alongside the shareholders they represent?

It's a simple question. And one you’d think a self-described owner-focused investment firm would lean into.

Yet, the fact is, Vanguard makes it very, very difficult to determine whether its directors are actually “eating their own cooking.”

What makes compiling the data on Vanguard’s directors’ investments difficult is the fact that disclosure only comes in bits and pieces over the course of the year. You can find the raw data for each individual fund in its Statement of Additional Information, a separate but component document of each fund’s prospectus. But that’s just on a per-fund basis. Nothing comprehensive.

The data disclosed is also far from comprehensive. Board member fund ownership must only be reported in five categories: $0, $1–$10,000, $10,001–$50,000, $50,001–$100,000 and over $100,000.

Tracking this data is complex and laborious. I believe Vanguard should make it more accessible to individual investors and, yes, the shareholders and owners that Vanguard claims to serve.

But because Vanguard won't do it, I will.

In the following tables, Premium Members can determine whether Vanguard's directors are investing with us.

The first table provides a high-level look at each director, how much they have received in compensation for their stewardship and how many Vanguard funds they own. The second table shows ownership fund by fund.