Vanguard's board of directors, or trustees, are the individuals charged with watching over the portfolio managers who watch over our money. So, where do they put their own investable cash? Which funds are the most popular with the folks charged with representing shareholders' interests? Are they eating their own cooking?

Well, yes and no.

Chairman Jack Brennan is, not surprisingly, a huge Vanguard fund fan. He's holding more than $100,000 in shares in 29 different funds (Brennan finally bought Health Care (VGHCX) in 2007) and between $50,001 and $100,000 in another six funds. (Financial regulators say all fund directors must disclose their holdings in one of five categories, $0, $1 to $10,000, $10,001 to $50,000, $50,001 to $100,000 and over $100,000.

No other director can match Brennan in the investment department, though James Wilson, who at 72 is probably on the verge of retiring from the Board and has been there even longer than Brennan, has over $100,000 in 17 funds. Wilson is the former chairman of chemical giant Rohm and Haas.

Most of the other directors seem to have made a decent commitment to Vanguard's family of funds, but I wouldn't call their overall portfolios broad in the sense that they have personal money at work in lots of different options (see also, "10 Things Vanguard Won't Tell You"). Charles Ellis, who joined the Board in 2001, and whose firm, Greenwich Associates, is a paid consultant to the Vanguard Group, owns just two funds, Emerging Markets Index (VEIEX) and Pacific Index (VPACX). Rajiv L. Gupta, Rohm and Haas' current Chairman, has been a Board member since 2001 and has holdings in just three equity funds–500 Index (VFINX), Equity Income (VEIPX) and SmallCap Growth Index (VISGX)–plus Limited-Term Tax-Exempt (VMLTX) and Tax-Exempt Money Market (VMSXX). Maybe he finally got the word after I wrote last year that he owned just two Vanguard funds, an even paltrier showing.

Full Disclosure

What's fascinating about the most recent disclosure of the Board's investments is that, for the first time, a domestic index fund is not the most popular holding. In fact, while five directors each own 500 Index and International Growth (VWIGX), it's Emerging Markets Index that captures the top spot, with six directors who hold more than $100,000 each in fund shares at the end of 2007.

Both Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania, and JoAnn Heffernan Heisen, a Johnson & Johnson executive, jumped into the fund in 2007 after having no assets allocated there in 2006. Both ended the year with more than $100,000 invested.

While several directors have money stashed in Tax-Free Money Market, and all but Ellis own at least one Vanguard money market fund, I'm surprised to see that none is using the state funds for New Jersey or Pennsylvania residents.

U.S. Growth lost Gutmann as a shareholder in 2007, and is now down to two Board members who own shares. Gutmann also apparently sold shares in Explorer (VEXPX), knocking her holdings down from over $100,000 to the $50,001 to $100,000 category.

Growth Equity (VGEQX), arguably one of the worst performers in the family alongside U.S. Growth, retains just one director as a shareholder...