Erick Miller

The Vanguard Group, Inc. (VGI) is an independent registered investment advisor and mutual fund manager headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The firm was founded in 1975 by John Bogle. In 1976, they introduced the first indexed mutual fund, the First Index Investment Trust (now known as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund), to individual investors. VGI provides investment advisory services to Vanguard family of funds and Vanguard's non-US clients, which are comprised of the following: (1) funds established as trusts under the laws of the Province of Ontario in Canada and (2) separate account clients of Vanguard's international subsidiaries.

In 1915 Charles Edward Merrill founded Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) with Edmund C. Lynch in Baltimore, Maryland. The modern Merrill Lynch was formed in 1940 through mergers with E.A. Pierce & Cassatt and, soon after, Fenner & Beane. In 1973, Merrill Lynch adopted a holding company format, with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. as the parent and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith as the operating subsidiary. Merrill Lynch Asset Management, Inc. (MLAM) was created as an integral business unit in the Merrill Lynch family in 1976. Fund Asset Management, doing business as Mercury Asset Management, was acquired in December 1997. In 2000, MLAM and Mercury were combined under the name Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. MLAM manages the Merrill Lynch family of mutual funds, as and acts as sub-advisor to other mutual funds.