Board Ownership

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

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

It's a simple question. Something approaching an answer is available, but Vanguard doesn't make it easy.

Compiling the data on Vanguard’s directors’ investments is difficult, as it is only disclosed in bits and pieces over the year. You can find the raw data in the Statement of Additional Information, a separate but component document of each fund’s prospectus.

The data disclosed is also far from comprehensive. Board member 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 that Vanguard claims to serve.

But if 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 and how many Vanguard funds they own. The second table shows director ownership fund by fund.