“Karin’s leadership skills and deep experience in various client-service roles will be vitally important as we continue to seek to lower the cost and complexity of investing for individuals saving for retirement, college, and other goals,” says Bill McNabb, chief executive of Vanguard Group, in the release. “In particular, she will continue to focus on making investment advice more accessible and affordable to our clients in an effort to give them a better chance for long-term investment success.” Vanguard spokesman John Woerth allows that Vanguard Personal Advisor Services is turning heads internally and that McNabb was referencing it in his remarks. VPAs is still technically in “pilot” but is expected to be fully launched by June 30. See: What Vanguard revealed under webcast pressure about its phono-robo’s vulnerability. “That’s a big initiative in our retail group,” Woerth says. VPAS appears to give full-throated advice, albeit mostly by telephone. See: The documented RIA threat, ‘phono-advisors’ and their nearly $300 billion of assets.