Rodney Comegys

Head of Vanguard's global equity team and overseer of its $8.5 trillion in index assets.

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Key positions and views

The S&P 500 is an inadequate benchmark and portfolio for a truly diversified investor due to its heavy concentration in U.S. large-cap companies.

Artificial intelligence will be the primary driver of a fundamental transformation in index portfolio management, rendering current methods obsolete within five to ten years.

Private assets should be a component in every investor's portfolio, indicating a belief in diversification beyond publicly traded securities.

Empowering individual shareholders through programs like 'Investor Choice' is a positive evolution in corporate governance, allowing end investors to direct votes on key issues.

The ETF structure, despite initial internal opposition at Vanguard, is a critical and beneficial tool for managing tax efficiency within funds through its creation and redemption mechanism.

Podcast consensus on Comegys

Points of consensus

▶Rodney Comegys is a senior leader at Vanguard responsible for trillions of dollars in assets, specifically overseeing $8.5 trillion in index assets and leading the $5 trillion global equity team.Apr 2026

▶He believes technology, particularly AI, will be a transformative force in investment management, predicting it will revolutionize index portfolio operations within a decade and significantly enhance customer service and financial advice.Apr 2026

▶Comegys consistently reinforces Vanguard's core business philosophy, which is centered on its unique shareholder-owned structure that returns value by lowering fees as the firm scales.Apr 2026

▶He advocates for a sophisticated and globally diversified approach to portfolio construction, arguing against using the S&P 500 as a sole benchmark and supporting the inclusion of private assets.Apr 2026

Points of debate

▶The podcast highlights a significant historical debate within Vanguard regarding ETFs, with founder Jack Bogle being 'highly opposed' to them, while other leaders like Gus Sauter championed them as a new distribution vehicle.Apr 2026

▶There is an implicit tension between Vanguard's promotion of long-term investing, with an average holding period of 5-10 years, and its use of ETFs, which were initially resisted by Bogle precisely because they facilitate detrimental intraday trading.Apr 2026

▶Comegys notes the decline in U.S. public companies has been concentrated in the small-cap space and may not have significantly impacted overall market returns, which presents a subtle contrast to the indexing philosophy of capturing the entire market, including smaller constituents.Apr 2026

▶Vanguard's introduction of the 'Investor Choice' program represents a shift in its stewardship role, creating a debate between the traditional model of the fund manager voting on behalf of all investors and a new model that delegates voting power to individual shareholders.Apr 2026

Key themes

▶Vanguard's Immense Scale and Market Influence

Comegys's role overseeing trillions in assets underscores Vanguard's massive market footprint. This scale is demonstrated by the firm owning, on average, 8% of every free-floated U.S. public company, giving it the influence to engage in market structure advocacy, such as establishing a closing auction in India to improve execution for its funds.

Vanguard's scale has evolved beyond just asset management into a force that can actively shape the mechanics and infrastructure of global financial markets to suit its operational needs.

▶The Technological Revolution in IndexingApr 2026

Comegys predicts that AI and other technologies will make the current process of running an index portfolio 'unrecognizable' within 5-10 years. Vanguard is already actively exploring AI to analyze corporate actions and plans to use it to deliver personalized financial advice and enhance customer service.

For Comegys, technology is not merely an incremental efficiency tool but a disruptive force that will fundamentally redefine the core operations of passive investing, suggesting a proactive strategy to lead this transformation.

▶Evolution of the Vanguard PhilosophyApr 2026

While Vanguard's core mission of lowering costs for its shareholder-owners remains constant, its methods evolve. Comegys recounts the firm's initial deep-seated opposition to ETFs, which are now embraced as a critical tool for tax management, and highlights the new 'Investor Choice' program as a modern approach to corporate governance.

Vanguard's history shows a pragmatic willingness to adopt financial innovations it once opposed, provided they can be adapted to serve its central, investor-centric mission.

▶Sophistication in Passive Portfolio Construction

Comegys articulates a nuanced view of passive investing that goes beyond simple market cap weighting. He argues the S&P 500 is an inappropriate benchmark for diversified investors, advocates for the inclusion of private assets in all portfolios, and details the technical precision required to manage index funds, such as achieving tracking errors of less than a basis point.

Despite leading a passive indexing giant, Comegys's perspective emphasizes that effective portfolio construction requires active decisions regarding benchmark selection, asset allocation, and global diversification.

Source episodes

Sentiment over time

Not enough data for timeline

Changes over time

When Rodney Comegys joined Vanguard

Comegys notes that at the time he joined, Vanguard's assets were approximately 80% active and 20% passive, with average fees around 30 basis points.

Late 1990s

Comegys references this period as the peak for the number of U.S. public companies, which stood between 6,000 and 7,000.

Early 2000s (Implied)

Comegys recounts the internal debate at Vanguard where founder Jack Bogle was 'highly opposed' to ETFs, and leader Gus Sauter's initial pitch to offer them was rejected by then-CEO Jack Brennan.

Post-2012

Comegys uses the example of Facebook's IPO, noting its stock price fell below the offering price and stayed there for nearly a year, to illustrate challenges in adding new public companies to an index.

Present Day

Comegys describes current Vanguard initiatives, including the 'Investor Choice' program for corporate governance and efforts to establish a closing auction on India's stock market.

Suggested prompts

How does Rodney Comegys reconcile Vanguard's historical skepticism towards ETFs with their current strategic importance for tax management and distribution? &nearr;What are the potential conflicts of interest and market-wide risks associated with a single entity like Vanguard owning an average of 8% of all U.S. public companies? &nearr;How might the 'Investor Choice' program impact corporate governance outcomes, and does it represent a fundamental shift in Vanguard's traditional stewardship role? &nearr;Given Comegys's prediction that AI will make current indexing unrecognizable, what specific operational risks and opportunities does this transition present for Vanguard? &nearr;

Key concepts

Vanguard Business Model 1 ep Index Fund Mechanics 1 ep Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Finance 1 ep Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) 1 ep Market Structure 1 ep Portfolio Construction 1 ep Corporate Governance 1 ep Securities Lending 1 ep

Notable quotes

“we own on average about eight percent of every company in in America that's free floated.”

Rodney Comegys · Rodney Comegys - The Mechanics of Indexing at Vanguard (EP.498)

“think about what will it be like five ten years from now in terms of how we run an index portfolio i'm positive i won't recognize the place”

Rodney Comegys · Rodney Comegys - The Mechanics of Indexing at Vanguard (EP.498)

“The S&P 500 should not be your benchmark nor your portfolio.”

Rodney Comegys · Rodney Comegys - The Mechanics of Indexing at Vanguard (EP.498)

“Vanguard is owned by its fund shareholders and returns value to them by lowering fees as the company grows.”

Rodney Comegys · Rodney Comegys - The Mechanics of Indexing at Vanguard (EP.498)

Report last updated: Apr 28, 2026

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