The 50th Annual ICI General Membership Meeting:
Our Foundations--Our Future

The 2008 General Membership Meeting (GMM), held May 7 - 9 in Washington, DC, brought a wide range of fund industry participants and observers together to explore the dynamics at work in the mutual fund industry. Below are summaries of a sample of the sessions and panel discussions.

Industry's Core Principles Have Led to Extraordinary Success, Says Bernard Edward C. Bernard, vice chairman of T. Rowe Price Group, chairman of T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds, and chairman of the 50th GMM, opened the meeting on May 7. The industry's "embrace of regulation" and "laser-sharp focus on serving investors" are the core principles of mutual funds that have led to the industry's extraordinary success, he said. Bernard added, "In a market storm, there's no better place for investors than mutual funds." View video

Stevens Urges Policymakers to Cut Red Tape for 401(k) Sponsors The success of the mutual fund industry has been accompanied by significant changes in the U.S. retirement system and ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens urged regulators and policymakers to continually refine and improve the system in his address. View video

Leaders Past and Present Discuss Industry's Evolution and Future The theme of the 50th GMM, "Our Foundations -- Our Future," was typified in a panel that featured fund executives of the present and previous generations in a free-ranging discussion about the growth of the mutual fund industry, which owes in part to changes in the retirement market. Jack Brennan, president and CEO of the Vanguard Group, moderated the panel, which included Melody Hobson, president of Ariel Capital Management; William Nutt, chairman of Affiliated Managers Group; Jonathan Thomas, president and CEO of American Century Investments; and Arthur Zeikel, retired chairman of Merrill Lynch Asset Management. View video