Russell hosts Strategic Partner Forum in Seattle

Forum aims to create opportunity for Russell and distribution partners to exchange ideas, discuss industry trends and share success strategies.

Seattle, WA — — Senior leaders from nearly 25 of Russell Investments’ national distribution partners representing an array of channels, including wirehouses, independent broker dealers, banks and insurance firms, are convening today in Seattle for the firm’s Strategic Partner Forum.

The Forum agenda consists of sessions covering issues impacting financial intermediaries’ clients and businesses, and includes a market and economic outlook, an investment division roundtable, interactive peer group discussions and presentations on trends and success strategies in the advisory business. Chip Roame, managing principal, Tiburon Strategic Advisors is a featured industry speaker at the event and Russell’s President and CEO Andrew Doman is also addressing the group.

The Forum comes at a time when Russell’s advisor-sold Americas Private Client Services (PCS) business, through which the firm works with these distribution partners nationally, is experiencing strong momentum. In the first half of 2011, PCS has added several new distribution partners and over 1,700 new producers and expanded the sales and service team, including the addition of a number of DC experts and growth in the bank channel team. They have also launched several new value-added capabilities, including LifePoints® Connect and the Advisor Health Index. Russell’s LifePoints® Funds Target Date Series also recently surpassed $1 billion in assets under management (AUM), reflecting year-over-year growth of 44 percent.

Commenting on the Forum, Sandy Cavanaugh, CEO of Russell’s Americas PCS business said, "We have senior leaders from the financial services industry with us in Seattle today who are as intent as Russell on helping advisors as they seek to improve the financial security of their clients. This forum offers an important opportunity for Russell to facilitate an exchange of ideas and best practices among peers as well as provide our partners with access to innovative thought leadership on key industry topics"

Cavanaugh continued: "We are also looking forward to recognizing our partners’ critical role in the impressive pace and positive momentum our advisor-sold business is currently experiencing. We believe the strength of Russell’s research, investment management and portfolio construction expertise, along with relevant practice management techniques to help advisors grow their own business and meet the needs of their clients, has positioned us to be a valued partner. The success of every advisor with whom we work is our shared success"
About Russell Investments

Russell Investments is an independent, global financial services firm that provides strategic advice, investment solutions, implementation services and global performance benchmarks that are customized to meet the unique needs of institutional investors, financial advisors and individuals.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2011, 25 years in Sydney and Tokyo and 15 years in the Netherlands, Russell has pioneered innovations that have come to define many of the practices that are standard in the investment world today, and has four decades of experience researching and selecting money managers globally.

Russell has about $161 billion in assets under management (as of 3/31/11) and works with 2,300 institutional clients, 530 independent distribution partners and millions of individual investors globally. As a consultant to some of the largest pools of capital in the world, Russell has $2 trillion in assets under advisement (as of 12/31/2010) and traded $1.4 trillion last year through its implementation services business. The Russell Global Indexes calculate over 50,000 benchmarks daily covering 63 countries and more than 10,000 securities.

Founded in 1936, Russell is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA and has offices in Amsterdam, Auckland, Chicago, London, Melbourne, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto. For more information about how Russell helps to improve financial security for people, visit www.russell.com.