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Ex-ice hockey star to lead Crosby Advisors family office

By Jessica Tasman-Jones

The family behind multi-billion-dollar financial services firm Fidelity Investments have recruited a former ice hockey star and private equity boss to run their family office.

Lane MacDonald, who represented the US at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, will join the private investment firm as president at the end of the month.

Known as Crosby Advisors, the family office manages the wealth of the Johnson family, which owns third-generation family business Fidelity Investments – one of the largest financial services groups in the world, and has $1.9 trillion assets under management.

MacDonald takes up the position just two months after his promotion to head of private equity at the Harvard Management Company (HMC), which manages the Ivy League university’s $32 billion endowment, the largest of its kind in the US.

Crosby Advisors used to be based in Massachusetts, but moved to Salem, New Hampshire, just across the state border, in 2010.

New Hampshire is said to be a favourable base for private trusts, and is an attractive location for family offices as a result. Families do not have to be based in the state to receive the benefits of its low tax rates on trust income.

According to Forbes, third-gen Abigail Johnson, who is president at Fidelity Investments, is worth $17.2 billion, while her father, Edward "Ned" Johnson, company chairman and chief executive, is worth $9.3 billion.

MacDonald, like the two Johnsons, is Harvard alumni, having received his undergraduate degree in economics from the Boston university, and also captaining the hockey team while he was there. He also has an MBA from Stanford University.

MacDonald joined HMC in 2008, having previously worked at Alta Communications, where he was part of a leadership team responsible for managing two of the firm’s major funds. He has also helped manage large investment funds at J W Childs Associates and BancBoston Capital.

Edward Johnson II founded Fidelity Investments, headquartered in Boston, in 1946. 

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