Vice chairman of Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price Group to retire this

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Oct 25, 2005 by Kathleen Johnston Jarboe

James S. Riepe, a voice for ethics in the mutual fund industry and vice chairman of T. Rowe Price Group Inc., plans to retire this year.

He steps down after 24 years with T. Rowe as the Baltimore-based company has been transformed into an international money management firm

With no formal chief executive at T. Rowe, Riepe was part of a seven-member management team that steered the business to grow from $13 billion in assets under management in 1981 to $245 billion this June. The company manages 92 retail funds.

I believe it is time to pass the baton, Riepe said in a prepared statement.

The 62-year-old managed marketing, investor service and technology activities, and he served as chairman of the company's mutual funds.

Riepe is credited with helping lead the company into the 401(k) business of managing company retirement plans. Riepe also played an important role in bringing investor account and phone services in- house as the industry faced critical growing pains.

Those firms that did not bring those services in-house, many of them did not survive, said George A. Roche, chairman and president of T. Rowe.

Riepe was active in industry roles outside of T. Rowe. He has been a member of the Board of Governors at NASD. He also was the only person to serve a second term as chairman at the Investment Company Institute, an industry trade group.

Riepe was chairman of the Investment Company Institute from 1990 to 1992. Last year he accepted a second term as chairman of the institute as the industry struggled with widespread scandals and as the trade group looked to install a new president.

In the wake of market-timing and late-trading abuses in the mutual fund industry, Riepe was known for addressing the scandals head-on and for pushing the industry to remove conflicts of interest that could create consumer distrust.

He, in his leadership capacity, emphasized over and over again looking at these issues from the point of view of people who invest in mutual funds, said Paul S. Stevens, president of the Investment Company Institute. I would use this term with relatively few people, but he truly is a giant of our business.

Riepe now serves as vice chairman of the Investment Company Institute but will step down when he leaves T. Rowe. He also is a director of The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. and chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.

T. Rowe has asked Riepe to stay on as a consultant. But Riepe said other plans remain uncertain though they could include additional board work.

I will stay active. But I don't want another full-time job, Riepe said in an interview with The Daily Record.

Vice President Edward C. Bernard, T. Rowe director and member of the investment firm's management committee since 2000, will replace him.