Women to Watch: Vanguard’s Joanna Rotenberg
Rotenberg joined Vanguard in January to lead the expansion of its wealth management division.
This is the second in a series of articles appearing each Monday in March celebrating Women to Watch in the ETF industry.
Joanna Rotenberg, who joined the Vanguard Group in January to lead the Advice & Wealth Management division, represents a pivotal component in the $8.7 trillion asset management company’s further migration into the financial advice business.
Rotenberg joined the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based financial services conglomerate from Fidelity Investments, where she was responsible for strategy, product innovation, technology, and the full distribution and service platform.
In her new role as managing director at Vanguard, she will lead the reestablishment and buildout of the wealth management business, which has grown to approximately $300 billion since it was launched in 2015
Rotenberg, who communicated with etf.com for this article via email, is still getting her bearings at Vanguard. But based on her background and her new area of focus, she is being recognized as one of the etf.com Women to Watch for 2025.
Vanguard’s Wealth Management Focus
A key element of Rotenberg’s impact will be navigating the balance of a growing financial advisory division inside a company that manages $2.6 trillion worth of ETF assets, which have become the most popular investment vehicle among financial advisors.
Jeff DeMaso, editor of the Independent Vanguard Adviser newsletter, has described Vanguard’s wealth management business as “walking a tightrope” that requires balancing the sale of ETFs through financial advisors with the business of providing financial advice to individual investors.
However, he pointed out, Vanguard has been walking that tightrope for the past 10 years without a noticeable issue.
The calm waters could be stirred a bit as Rotenberg and her team start bulking up what Vanguard is calling the “new Advice & Wealth Management division.”
The Vanguard Effect
Rotenberg, who has not yet done any media interviews since joining Vanguard, said the opportunity is appealing on multiple levels.
“I’ve always admired Vanguard,” she wrote in an email. “Vanguard has such a pronounced impact on improving outcomes and democratizing access to investing.”
It’s that democratized access where Vanguard’s massive resources might start squaring off with financial advisors.
As it stood before Rotenberg came on board, Vanguard’s wealth management services ranged from bare bones digital advice starting at five basis points (0.05%) all the way up to personalized financial advice for accounts with at least $5 million.
In classic, low-cost fashion, Vanguard is already well positioned to compete with advisors charging 1% asset-based fees.
The highest end of Vanguard wealth management services starts at 30 basis points and drops down to five basis points depending on account sizes.
“I am excited by the steps we are taking to bring the Vanguard effect to Advice & Wealth Management, a natural extension of our mission,” Rotenberg wrote.
Citing “high-quality, high-impact, low-cost” wealth management, she continued, “A great proof of concept is that we reduced the asset minimum on our roboadvisor to $100 over the summer.”
“The reduced minimum, coupled with other efforts, has meant that three of four new clients are receiving advice for the first time,” she added.
Building on Momentum
Rotenberg holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western University in London, Ontario and a JD/MBA from the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management.
Prior to her two years at Fidelity Investments, she spent more than 11 years at BMO Financial Group, where she became Group Head of BMO Wealth Management.
Prior to that she spent nearly nine years at McKinsey & Co., where she was a partner. Her time at McKinsey is also where she first met Salim Ramji, who took over as Vanguard’s chief executive officer in May.
In terms of her plans for the wealth management business at Vanguard, Rotenberg emailed, “In the short term, we will build on our momentum and continue to make enhancements in the digital and advisor-supported client experiences.”
“We will also expand our capabilities to meet clients’ evolving needs and find unique, ‘only Vanguard’ ways to do this, benefiting from our talented mission-driven people, digital solutions and unique ownership structure,” she added.
