Catherine Smith, a high-yield bond portfolio manager at Wellington Management Co., has resigned after 17 years for personal reasons, according to BW sister publication Money Management Letter. Lisa Finkel, spokeswoman for Wellington, declined to comment, and Smith could not be reached. Christopher Jones, a high-yield bond manager at the firm for just under a decade, has taken over Smith's duties. At last count, Wellington managed about $8 billion in junk bonds. Dan Bryant, cio for the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana and one of Wellington's clients, said the firm notified him in advance of Smith's resignation, and that the fund has no plans to replace her. Wellington handles a $128 million junk bond mandate for the plan, as well as a $151 million mid-cap growth mandate.
Bryant added that Jones said Smith was leaving the firm because she wanted to spend more time with her family. "It had nothing to do with the firm," Bryant said. Smith's departure comes in the wake of the widely reported retirement of another of Wellington's portfolio managers, Ernst Von Metzsch, lead equity portfolio manager on the Wellington Fund, Energy Fund and Balanced Portfolio. The two resignations are unrelated, said Finkel.