Zachary Rayfield, Ph.D., CFA is head of Goals-Based Investing Research in Vanguard Investment Strategy Group. He leads the team responsible for creating the research underlying Vanguard’s target-date funds, 529 college savings, and other goals-based investing solutions in the U.S. and abroad. His team is responsible for the Vanguard Life Cycle Model (VLCM), a proprietary analytical framework for glide path construction that can assist in the creation of custom investment portfolios for retirement and nonretirement goals. Prior to joining Vanguard, Zach was a vice president in T. Rowe Price’s multi-asset division, where he worked on the research group aligned with the firm’s target-date strategies and retirement solutions. In this role, he was responsible for research underlying the glide path design methodology for the firm’s flagship target-date funds. He also conducted custom glide path analyses and led development of methodology for personalized and dynamic extensions of the firm’s glide path design framework. Zach earned a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and an M.S. and Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.