Russell Focuses on U.S. Bank Channel with Two Key Promotions

National Account Executives John Harrell and Paul Izzo deliver Russell solutions to bank partners

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Increasing its presence in the U.S. bank channel for its advisor-sold business, Russell Investments has promoted John Harrell, CFP® and Paul Izzo to serve in the newly created positions of National Account Executive. Each manages the development and execution of strategies to distribute Russell’s investment products through a bank’s broker dealers with strategic and tactical oversight. They also are part of a growing team at Russell with a goal to establish new strategic bank partnerships and facilitate programs that support the growth in assets under management as well as the ongoing success of the overall relationships.

“We’ve positioned John and Paul to marshal their experience and insights in working with investment professionals who are focused on providing affluent individuals and business owners with solutions to the financial issues they face throughout their lifetimes,” said Pamela Dawson, who spearheads Bank Channel Distribution at Russell. “Both of these well-connected professionals bring the skills we need to build out the bank channel for Russell and, more importantly, to offer top-level, dedicated resources to our partners in the field.”

Harrell, who joined Russell in 2010 as a regional director, is based in Portland, Oregon, where he focuses on financial firms headquartered in the western half of the United States. Harrell arrived at Russell with almost 20 years’ experience developing innovative solutions for clients in the financial services industry, most recently at Symetra Financial Corporation. As managing director and western division sales manager at Symetra, he was instrumental in the expansion and development of the Financial Institution Division, including the installation of Symetra’s solutions at more than a dozen major bank programs.

Izzo, who is based in Houston, manages Russell’s bank channel distribution program in the eastern United States from Texas to the Northeast. Prior to joining Russell in 2009 as a regional director, Izzo served as regional vice president with AXA Equitable.

Dawson, who also joined Russell in 2010, added that early in her career she worked with Harrell to launch one of the first successful bank investment platform programs in the country.

“There’s a lot of well-tailored experience within our growing bank channel team, and we’re organized now to more effectively focus on a tremendous opportunity for Russell to deliver innovative solutions to bank channel partners and their clients,” she said.

About Russell

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.

Russell Investment Group, a Washington, USA corporation, operates through subsidiaries worldwide including Russell Investments. Russell Investment Group is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Russell Investments is the owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to its indexes.

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Source: Russell Investments