William Danoff (born 1959–60) is known for being a vice-president and

portfolio manager A portfolio manager (PM) is a professional responsible for making investment decisions and carrying out investment activities on behalf of vested individuals or institutions. Clients invest their money into the PM's investment policy for future grow ...

Fidelity Contrafund Fidelity Contrafund (symbol FCNTX) is a mutual fund operated and provided by Fidelity Investments. Its current manager is William Danoff, who has headed the fund since 1990. Contrafund's AUM ( assets under management) as of July 2015 total over 112 ...

. At US $129 billion, Contrafund is the largest actively managed stock or bond mutual fund run by one person.

Education and early career

Danoff has a degree in history from Harvard and an MBA from

Wharton Wharton may refer to: Academic institutions * Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania * Wharton County Junior College * Paul R. Wharton High School * Wharton Center for Performing Arts, at Michigan State University Places * Wharton, Ch ...

. First joining Fidelity as an analyst in 1986, Danoff trained under

Peter Lynch Peter Lynch (born January 19, 1944) is an American investor, mutual fund manager, and philanthropist. As the manager of the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments between 1977 and 1990, Lynch averaged a 29.2% annual return, consistently more than ...

, who managed Fidelity's

Magellan Fund The Fidelity Magellan Fund () is a U.S.-domiciled mutual fund from the Fidelity family of funds. It is perhaps the world's best-known actively managed mutual fund, known particularly for its record-setting growth under the management of Peter Lync ...

from obscurity in the 1970s to the world's largest mutual fund in the 1980s.

Fidelity Contrafund

William Danoff is the single manager of the

Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments, commonly referred to as Fidelity, earlier as Fidelity Management & Research or FMR, is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in 1946 and is on ...

' flagship mutual fund Contrafund. Contrafund is one of Fidelity's largest mutual funds holding over $129 billion in assets, making it the largest single-manager mutual fund in the world. Danoff's Contrafund mutual fund outperformed the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...

's trailing one year, three year, five year, ten year and fifteen year total returns, making the

mutual fund A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV i ...

one of only three to accomplish such an achievement still in the marketplace as of the beginning of the year 2014 (according to Morningstar Incorporated). As of July 2018, the fund has continued its outperformance over the

. The size of the Fidelity Contrafund is the second largest actively managed mutual fund in the market as of 2014, behind the

American Funds Capital Group is an American financial services company. It ranks among the world's oldest and largest investment management organizations, with over $2.6 trillion in assets under management. Founded in Los Angeles, California in 1931, it is priv ...

Growth Fund of America (AGTHX). The American Funds team managed about $138.9 Billion; about a quarter larger than Contrafund. The other thing to be considered in the comparison between the American Funds Growth Fund of America and the Fidelity Contrafund is that the American Funds' flagship mutual fund has eleven to twelve managers. Danoff said in an interview in the summer of 2013 to help explain his success - "Larger funds have a higher degree of difficulty. For me, it's the ability to make big bets — it's harder. My denominator is so big that it's not that easy to find really great stories at scale." In 2015, Danoff's 25-year solo management became an issue of concern as Fidelity had not named a co-manager for Contrafund. Should Danoff retire or become incapacitated without a co-manager or succession plan, Contrafund might face major redemptions from shareholders and lose its position in many large retirement plans which typically require at least three years of manager tenure.

References

Living people American money managers Harvard College alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni 1959 births {{US-business-bio-1950s-stub

Education and early career

Fidelity Contrafund

See also

References