Mark Fetting to succeed Mason as Legg Mason's CEO

By Margarita Snegireva. Legg Mason Inc. named Mark Fetting chief executive to succeed Raymond Mason, who over 46 years built a regional stock brokerage into the No. 2 publicly traded money manager in the U.S., with $1 trillion in assets under management.

Photo: Mark Fetting to succeed Mason as Legg Mason's CEO

Fetting, 53, was previously responsible for mutual funds at the Baltimore-based company. Mason, 71, had been looking for a successor since April when James Hirschmann, then chief operating officer, backed out of a plan to take over.

Founded in 1899, Legg Mason, Inc. is a leading Global Asset Management Firm that serves the institutional, mutual fund and wealth management markets. The firm is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, and is located on Lombard and Charles Streets in the Legg Mason building (formerly the USF&G building), which, at 35 above-ground stories, is the tallest building in Baltimore and in Maryland (and the tallest building between Charlotte and Philadelphia). Legg Mason serves a variety of clients including institutional and individual investors through three business units: Global Managed Investments, U.S. Asset Management, and International Asset Management.

The firm provides investment advisory services through a diversified group of managers including Western Asset Management, ClearBridge Advisors, Legg Mason Capital Management, Private Capital Management, Royce & Associates, Brandywine Asset Management, Batterymarch Financial Management, and The Permal Group.

Structured as a holding company, Legg Mason has investment offices in the UK, Brazil, Japan, Singapore, Chile, Poland, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. The firm is among the world's largest asset managers based on assets under management with managed assets in excess of $890 billion as of September 30, 2006. Legg Mason, Inc. is a member of S&P 500. In 2006 the Legg Mason brokerage was bought out by Smith Barney, Citigroup and acquired their logo.