Bill Gross once sat atop the fund industry. Then came his troubles at Pimco followed by the sunglasses speech at Morningstar last year and finally a new job at Janus. Now he is dethroned.

So who sits in the seat as the fund industry's most influential person after Gross' dethroning? We will save the answer to the end.

These are the 10 people you need to meet if you want to understand the mutual fund industry and where it's heading next.

William "Bill" Hunt Gross, Janus Capital: He's still everywhere ... even though he doesn't manage as much money as he used to.
Joseph "Joe" D. Mansueto, Morningstar: He's the man behind the stars.
David Gilbert Booth, Dimensional Fund Advisors: DFA has a unique distribution model, and a loyal advisor fan base.
Jeffrey E. Gundlach, DoubleLine Group [profile]: The new Bond King?
Douglas "Doug" Michael Hodge, Pimco: We're watching to see life post Gross.
James "Jim" F. Rothenberg, Capital Research and Management Company: CapGroup is changing in the post (pre?) Lovelace era.
Mary Jo White, the Securities and Exchange Commission: Sub-TA fees are not the only issue coming.
Abigail "Abby" Pierrepont Johnson, Fidelity Investments: Something fundamental is seemingly changing every day at the Boston Behemoth.
Laurence "Larry" D Fink, BlackRock: iShares and deals have made Larry's firm the #1 asset manager.
Frederick "Bill" William McNabb III, the Vanguard Group: Keeping a steady hand on the indexing and cost tiller.

This is a current snapshot of the MFWire's list of the 10 most influential people in the mutual fund industry. The list will not be static, and stay tuned for more top 10 lists coming soon, too!

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor

Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE