David Booth relinquishes co-CEO title at Dimensional Fund Advisors

David Booth, the disciple of efficient markets theorist Eugene Fama who founded Dimensional Fund Advisors in 1981, is stepping back from day-to-day management of the company.
DFA, which has grown to manage $460bn in assets, said that Mr Booth has relinquished the role of co-chief executive and will instead be executive chairman. The company has promoted David Butler, a 20-year veteran who is currently DFA’s head of global financial advisor services, to be co-CEO alongside Eduardo Repetto.

The move signals a gradual changing of the guard at DFA, whose investing strategy is based not on picking stocks via human analysis but instead on systematically exploiting long-term patterns in the market.

Mr Booth, who turned 70 last year, said he would remain closely involved in the firm on strategic initiatives:

I am confident we have the people, the capabilities, the client base, and the connections with leading thinkers to continue to make a difference for investors.

Mr Booth was a pupil of Mr Fama at Chicago University and helped create one of the first index funds while at Wells Fargo, before setting up DFA. Mr Fama is a consultant and board director at the company to this day.