Vanguard has an upcoming change to the portfolio managers of Vanguard Health Care Fund. Jean Hynes will step down as co-portfolio manager of the fund in January 2025. She will continue to serve as the CEO and a Managing Partner of Wellington Management.

Rebecca Sykes, CFA, who has worked closely with Hynes since joining Wellington Management’s Health Care Team in 2007 and has advised the fund as co-portfolio manager since May 2023, will become the sole portfolio manager. The change is part of a thoughtful, long-term succession plan that ensures continuity for investors in the industry’s largest healthcare fund.

Hynes has focused on the healthcare sector throughout her 33-year career at Wellington Management, and she has served as a portfolio manager on the Health Care Fund since 2008. During her distinguished tenure as a portfolio manager, the Health Care Fund has outperformed its benchmark by more than 1.6 percent per year, and fund assets have doubled from $23 billion to $48 billion as of June 30, 2024. Hynes will continue to serve as a resource to Sykes and the broader Wellington Health Care Team.   

“Jean is a widely respected and incredibly talented leader and investor with deep knowledge of the healthcare sector built over decades,” said Karin Risi, managing director of Strategy, Product, Marketing, and Communications at Vanguard. “Vanguard is indebted to Jean for all she’s done—and continues to do—for our clients, including the fund’s impressive performance under her leadership and her strong commitment to developing a highly skilled and experienced team of healthcare investors. We have full confidence in Rebecca as she steps up to be the sole portfolio manager of Vanguard Health Care Fund.”

Sykes joined Wellington Management as a member of the Health Care Team in 2007. She is a Global Industry Analyst and health care portfolio manager, and team leader for Wellington’s 15-person Health Care sector research team. 

Sykes earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and a B.S. in economics, finance, and healthcare management from the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated magna cum laude. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.

“The Vanguard Health Care Fund has such an amazing legacy, going back to 1984 with original portfolio manager Edward Owens, who was a legendary investor, a mentor to me, and a visionary leader of our Health Care Team,” said Hynes. “I am confident that the fund’s shareholders are in good hands with Rebecca Sykes at the helm. She is an experienced and extremely skilled investor and a great example of the depth of Wellington Management’s investment talent. I’m excited to see her take over as the fund’s lead portfolio manager.”

Throughout her tenure at Wellington, Hynes was a Global Industry Analyst covering the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors through 2013, became sole portfolio manager and leader of the Health Care Team in 2013, was elected one of three Managing Partners in 2014, and was appointed CEO in 2021.

She is the fifth CEO in the firm’s history and the first female to hold the position. Hynes is a recipient of several industry awards including Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance for the last five years and Morningstar’s Top Female Fund Managers of 2024.