After Tim Buckley announced last month that he will retire as CEO of Malvern-based Vanguard group at year-end, the company raised some eyebrows when it declared it would also look at external candidates to find his replacement, writes Joseph N. DiStefano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Buckley also stepped down as president and will retire as chair at the same time as CEO.

While early retirement is normal for Vanguard executives, the investment giant has so far always promoted candidates from within for its top position.

Vanguard chief investment officer Greg Davis has already been named president, which was so far a stepping stone to the CEO’s position. But the company’s declaration that it will conduct a “comprehensive process to select a new CEO, evaluating both internal and external candidates,” poses a question of whether it will hire an outsider as its CEO for the first time in its history.

“If you are happy with the way things are going, you won’t change,” said Charles Elson, a corporate-governance scholar. “Only if they have a radical cultural problem do you go outside for change agents.”

Read more about the internal and external search for the next Vanguard CEO in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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