Abigail Johnson is one of the richest women in the world thanks to her approximate 24% stake in Fidelity. She is the richest person in Massachusetts.
Early Life
Abigail Pierrepont Johnson was born into one of the most prominent families in American finance. She is the daughter of Edward “Ned” Johnson III and the granddaughter of Fidelity Investments founder Edward C. Johnson II. Raised in the Boston area, she attended the elite private school Buckingham Browne & Nichols and spent her early years immersed in the culture of business and investing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in art history from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1984. After a brief stint as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, she went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1988. That same year, she formally joined Fidelity, beginning her climb through the ranks of the family-run company.
Career at Fidelity
Abigail Johnson began her Fidelity career as an analyst and portfolio manager, working on the firm’s mutual fund offerings. Over the next two decades, she took on a series of increasingly senior roles, demonstrating both financial acumen and the ability to modernize the firm’s operations. In 2001, she was named president of Fidelity’s mutual fund division, a key pillar of the company’s success. In 2012, Johnson was promoted to president of Fidelity Financial Services, placing her in charge of the company’s core businesses. Two years later, in 2014, she was named CEO, officially succeeding her father. In 2016, she became chair of the board, completing the transition of leadership to the third generation of the Johnson family. As CEO, Johnson presided over a period of both consolidation and transformation. She embraced emerging technologies and helped steer Fidelity into new areas such as cryptocurrency custody and trading, robo-advising, and digital wealth platforms. In 2018, Fidelity launched Fidelity Digital Assets, one of the first major institutional cryptocurrency platforms, signaling Johnson’s willingness to innovate in a traditionally conservative industry. She stepped down as CEO in 2023 but retained her role as chair. Under her guidance, Fidelity remained a private company controlled by the Johnson family, with an estimated $4.5 trillion in assets under management and over $11 trillion in total customer assets.
Leadership Style and Influence
Known for being private, pragmatic, and intensely focused, Johnson has maintained a relatively low public profile despite her immense influence in global finance. She has long championed the modernization of Fidelity’s internal systems and culture, pushing the firm to adapt to younger generations of investors while maintaining its trusted brand. Johnson is widely respected for balancing tradition with innovation. She has repeatedly ranked among Forbes magazine’s most powerful women in the world and has been praised for her foresight in exploring digital currencies and blockchain infrastructure well ahead of most institutional competitors. Her leadership also emphasized long-term client relationships, employee retention, and keeping Fidelity under family control rather than taking the company public—a rarity among large financial firms.
Philanthropy and Personal Life
Though she tends to avoid the spotlight, Johnson is active in philanthropic and civic causes, particularly in the Boston area. She has supported a range of education, healthcare, and arts institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and initiatives related to financial literacy and STEM education. Abigail Johnson is married to Christopher McKown, co-founder of health care analytics firm iTriage and former CEO of Health Dialog. The couple has two children. She is known to be an avid skier and art enthusiast and has largely stayed out of the public eye, preferring to lead with discretion rather than flamboyance.
