A mutual fund and ETF shop's CEO is moving on after two decades with the New York City-based firm, and he's passing the reins to a top executive who joined last spring.

Robert Nestor Direxion Investments, Rafferty Asset Management President

Dan O'Neill recently stepped down as CEO of Rafferty Asset Management's Direxion [profile], confirms Direxion president Rob Nestor. Nestor now serves as the head of the firm, best known for its leveraged and inverse index funds.

O'Neill did not return calls for comment.

"He will remain as chairman of the fund board," Nestor says of O'Neill.

Nestor joined Direxion last spring, and later last year he hired new heads of product and of national accounts. A key part of him coming on board was succession planning, Nestor tells MFWire, and O'Neill stepped back a bit from day-to-day management last year after Nestor joined.

Direxion launched as Potomac Funds in 1997, and O'Neill joined in 1999 as managing director. In 2006 when Potomac rebranded as Direxion, O'Neill stayed on as president and chief investment officer. He rose to CEO in 2008 while keeping the president and CIO titles, too.

Before joining Potomac, O'Neill worked in hedge funds at Hermitage Capital Management Limited. He is an alumnus of the University of Virginia School of Law and of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Nestor, an alumnus of the University of Delaware and of Drexel University, spent a decade at Vanguard and then a decade at BlackRock before joining Direxion last year. 

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