Fidelity's number two to retire

Fidelity Investments president Rodger Lawson, the No. 2. executive at the Boston financial services company, said he plans to step down on March 31, renewing speculation about who will eventually succeed 79-year-old Fidelity chairman Edward "Ned" Johnson III as head of the firm.

Lawson, who became Fidelity president three years ago, said he plans to remain with the company as a full-time advisor to Johnson, but no longer wants to work marathon hours overseeing the vast company's operations. And he said it's a perfect time to step down, because the company is performing better than ever.

"I doubt you will have a better time," said the 63-year-old Lawson, adding that he originally  agreed to serve as company president for three years. "It's a perfect time. The business is strong."

Fidelity didn't immediately announce a successor. Lawson said the company will be run for now by Johnson and the company's executive committee, but he said it's likely that the company would promote an internal executive or make other moves in coming months. He said he doubted the company would recruit an outsider, because the firm's internal executive team is so strong.

But the move raises the question of who will succeed Johnson, the elderly patriarch of the family business. Many analysts expect the company to eventually be run by Johnson's daughter, Abigail Johnson, a vice chairman of the firm.

Johnson already runs the company's largest unit, which manages retirement plans for companies and individuals, as well as its retail investment business. She has previously run other major units, including its flagship investment management arm.

Moreover, since Lawson was brought in as president in 2007 with a promise to restore Fidelity's place as among the leading investment firms in the country, a number of other high-ranking executives who might have been candidates for the top posts have since moved on, leaving Abigail Johnson as among the most seasoned executives there.

It's unclear when the elderly Johnson will step down. Lawson said: "I don't think he is ever going to retire."

Lawson's announcement would appear to be somewhat at odds with what he said last summer, in response to rumors that he was being fired or otherwise departing Fidelity.

"I will stay with the company in one role or another for as long as the company needs me, even if it's 10 years," he said last August. "As long as my health is good, and along as" Johnson "doesn't kick me out, I'm staying."

But Lawson noted he plans to remain with Fidelity. And he said the company no longer needs him as company president, because it has performed so well by gaining market share and slashing expenses.

"We're very profitable," Lawson said, adding that the firm is probably "the most profitable we have ever been."