'The Only Assets...Are People'   Aylward was raised on Long
Island. He moved to Connecticut to attend the University of
Connecticut, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in
accounting. Aylward later earned a master's in business
administration from the University of Massachusetts.  As a
certified public accountant, Aylward worked at
PricewaterhouseCoopers before moving to The Phoenix Cos. and
heading its asset management business, which was spun off as a
new company in late 2008, in Hartford. Since going public in
January 2009, Virtus' stock has grown nine-fold and the company
was recently profiled in Forbes magazine as "The Little Mutual
Fund Company That Could."  Aylward, 48, is president and CEO of
Virtus. He lives in Westfield, Mass., with his German shepherd.
Q: How and why did you get into this line of business?  A: I had
started as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and I had a
whole host of clients in the financial services: insurance,
banking and asset management. I became very interested