Vanguard's new compliance officer returns to old job as top Pa. securities cop

Vanguard Group, with assets approaching $4 trillion, has been beefing up its legal, accounting and compliance staff and preparing to more-fully comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley auditing requirements for public companies. (Vanguard, a private, for-profit company, isn't going public, spokeswoman Arianna Stefanoni Sherlock clarifies: "We adhere to many universally accepted compliance standards simply as good business practice.")

But Vanguard will now have to do without its new compliance manager, Eric Pistilli, who after three months at the Malvern fund giant returned today to his old job at Pennsylvania's Chief of Securities Licensing, overseeing more than 800 Pennsylvania investment advisors who manage $100 milion or less in clients' money: state banking and securities secretary Robin Weissman told employees:

"I am very pleased to announce that our former Chief of Securities Licensing, Eric Pistilli, will be returning to the department on February 6 to assume his old duties and position after a short tenure at Vanguard.  Eric brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this important position in our securities regulatory function, and we are thrilled to have him back," Weissman wrote.

Pistilli is back trying to do a job that Pennsylvania, like other states, has had a tough time finding enough technically-skilled compliance officers to staff,  Weissman told me in an interview last week.