From the Editor...

Greetings, and Happy September! Here's hoping you had a good end-of-summer and Labor Day weekend and are in good shape as we all head into the final stretch of this very long, very packed, year. My break during FBV's annual two-week August shutdown was much needed and much enjoyed. And I've been busy since we returned earlier this month.

First, we shared with subscribers our first-ever ebook of 10 Things... lists. It's quite the compilation and chock full of useful information, so make sure you take the time to go through it and keep it handy for future reference. We also sent out our monthly PDF, which in this case included much more than a month; it encompassed all the stories we ran in both July and August (before our break, which began on Aug. 24). Again, lots of great information, intelligence, guidance, and analysis in there, so take the time to make sure you didn't miss anything in the second half of the summer.

As for recent coverage, we've been busy so far this month.

We've visited the Hartford Funds boardroom, where changes are taking place. The board has added some new directors, which is interesting in itself, but the story behind the decision-making is what's really interesting—and useful to other boards who may be facing a similar situation. In an exclusive interview with FBV for our A Seat at the Table feature, Nominating and Governance Committee Chairman Duane Hill discussed the board's efforts to maintain its diversity and culture as it recruits and plans for leadership changes. There's a lot of great information and insight in this piece, so be sure to give it a read.

Speaking of great information, Independent Directors Council has released its annual Directors Practices Study, full of mutual fund director compensation figures and other data. We provide readers with an exclusive look at the data, which shows that compensation was relatively flat last year. You can only read about it here, in FBV.

In the courts, MetWest victory in a 5-year-old 36(b) case decided last year has been affirmed by the Ninth Circuit. And a Republican congressman from Minnesota has re-introduced a bill that would make it more difficult to file 36(b) cases in the first place. Rep. Tom Emmer first introduced the legislation in the 115th Congress, but it didn't progress very far so he's put it forth again. "By ensuring lawsuit claims have evidence and are worth pursuing, we can increase the stability of these funds and secure investments in our future," he said. 

Finally, the board that will oversee the fund lineup following Virtus Investment Partners' and Allianz Global Investors' strategic partnership later this year has been decided. It will include three from AllianzGI Funds and 10 from Virtus Funds. Details are in the story we ran last week. 

For now,

Hillary Jackson, founding editor