Key Fidelity Executive Resigns

McColgan, who had risen through ranks since joining Fidelity in 1990, left "to pursue opportunities outside of the company," the Boston-based firm said.

While the 53-year-old's sudden departure boosts the chance that the family run firm will someday be led by Johnson's daughter Abigail Johnson, observers say it's too early to regard her as a lock for the top job -- especially since her father has given no indication when he'll step down from the chairman and chief executive posts he's held since 1977.

Observers say succession remains murky after an April management reshuffling that had left McColgan with added responsibilities and included the surprise retirement of another potential CEO successor, 55-year-old Chief Operating Officer Robert Reynolds.

Last month, the picture became further clouded by the return of Rodger Lawson, who ran Fidelity's retail sales from 1985 to 1991 before joining Prudential Financial Inc. On July 16, Fidelity said the 60-year-old would oversee Fidelity's sales and retirement services and become president of FMR Corp., the holding company for Fidelity's far-flung businesses.

He assumed his new duties Monday, and on Tuesday, Fidelity said he would also temporarily pick up McColgan's responsibilities overseeing Fidelity's distributions and operations unit until her permanent replacement is named.

While outsiders who follow the privately held company speculate that Abigail Johnson may now be the favorite to succeed her father, they say Lawson shouldn't be counted out.

"I think you can't dismiss Lawson at this point," said Dan Lefkovitz, a Morningstar Inc. analyst who follows Fidelity's mutual funds business.

However, McColgan's departure "demonstrates the futility of trying to play the parlor game of figuring out succession at Fidelity," Lefkovitz said. "It's more proof that the executive ranks there are fluid, and the only constant there over the years has been Ned Johnson."

Eric Tyson, author of the book "Mutual Funds for Dummies" and a former management consultant, believes tradition favors Abigail Johnson, since her family has run Fidelity since Ned Johnson's father founded it in 1946.

"Ned has had his daughter in line for a long time, assuming she wants the job," Tyson said. "I'd assume she's the heir apparent."

At stake is leadership at Fidelity, a 41,000-employee company with a huge presence on Wall Street and $1.5 trillion in managed assets.

McColgan had been considered a rising star after leading Fidelity's retail brokerage business since 2002 and overseeing the unit's strong growth.

In April, she was named president of distribution and operations, overseeing financial products and services sold to individual investors and through third-party intermediaries. Responsibility for those areas previously had been divided among several people, including Abigail Johnson.

The reorganization left McColgan and Abigail Johnson jointly overseeing distribution, with Johnson also continuing in her role leading the Fidelity unit that manages institutional retirement benefits.

Fidelity spokesman Anne Crowley said McColgan was on vacation Tuesday and unavailable for comment on her departure.

Eric Kobren, executive editor of the Fidelity Insight, a Wellesley-based independent Fidelity newsletter, said McColgan may have decided to leave because Lawson's arrival left her reporting directly to him, rather than to Ned Johnson.

"In any company, when you bring in someone new and all of sudden you have people reporting to that person who used to report to the boss, you've got to wonder how long they'll be staying," Kobren said.

In a news release, Ned Johnson said that during Lawson's temporary appointment overseeing McColgan's duties, "Rodger and I will work jointly on operational matters for an interim period, during which we will fine-tune the organizational structure in order to enhance and grow the business."

Abigail Johnson once oversaw Fidelity's core mutual funds business but was transferred to the lower-profile retirement benefits position in 2005 after lagging results for some of Fidelity's top funds.

That move allowed her to diversify her experience among Fidelity's far-flung businesses. But it was seen by many observers as a demotion.

Some have suggested Ned Johnson may be staying on this long to try and turn investment performance around before leaving, since the company has seen only middling returns in recent years from key mutual funds that fueled its growth in the late 1980s and early '90s.