Russell establishes five global service lines
Firm harnesses power of global network to deliver innovative solutions to clients
TACOMA, WASH, MAY 15, 2009 - Russell Investments announced the creation of five new global service lines: Consulting and Advisory Services, DB/DC Outsourcing, OpenWorld®, Retail and Russell Investment Services (RIS). These new service lines will complement existing global offerings, including multi-manager, Pantheon (private equity) and Indexes. These seven global service lines work with the regional business units, leveraging the firm’s global resources and enhancing Russell’s ability to deliver innovative intellectual capital and investment products and services to any client, anywhere in the world.
“This is an exciting new era for Russell,” said CEO Andrew Doman. “We’re confident that the extraordinary power in Russell’s nexus of businesses, when harnessed through these new global service lines, will generate opportunities for engineering innovative solutions for our clients. Our clients are demanding access to Russell’s full global capabilities and our new service lines will be responsible for delivering the very best of Russell worldwide to any client, wherever they are located.”
Leading the global service lines
Johan Cras, head of Russell’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, will assume the additional role of chairman of the global service line leadership committee. Each of the five service lines will have a global head(s), as outlined below, who are charged with identifying opportunities for growth at the intersection between business lines and geographies, developing consistent practices on a global scale and advocating innovations that can be executed within and across individual business units and geographic regions. These individuals will continue to hold their existing operational leadership roles within their respective business units.
- Global Head of Consulting and Advisory Services – Janine Baldridge; co-chairs: John Stannard and Don Ezra
- Global Heads of DB/DC Outsourcing – Colette Taylor and Mark Blair
- Global Head of OpenWorld – Pascal Duval; co-chair Ian Barnes
- Global Heads of Retail – Greg Stark and Irshaad Ahmad
- Global Head of RIS – Greg Gilbert
“Russell is committed to securing a leadership position in each of its key business areas. The global service lines underscore this by creating a mechanism to ensure a consistent and cohesive level of excellence, while simultaneously strengthening our premier position in each business,” said Doman. “Russell’s Index business, which already successfully bridges all economies, markets and currencies, is a testament to the benefits that can be realized from a structure that reinforces and encourages this kind of global collaboration.”
While collaboration across markets and scalability are not new concepts at Russell, the new global service lines will provide a formal structure through which business lines can more effectively and easily collaborate while focusing with precision on meeting clients’ short- and long-term needs.
This new structure will mean that Russell is able to more rapidly deliver to its clients an enhanced array of solutions and value-added services based on intellectual capital from around the world.
“Russell has distinct advantages arising directly from our key differentiators – our manager research capabilities, our world-renowned investment expertise, our exceptional intellectual capital and our heritage of innovation; we are world leaders in optimizing asset management performance,” said Doman. “The competitive environment has changed; risk has been redefined for most if not all investors, and the need for outcome-oriented investment approaches for many clients is paramount. Against this backdrop, Russell’s advantages have profound relevance for our clients’ ongoing investment needs, including facing current market challenges.
“Our clients demand from us the very best possible advice and analysis,” added Doman. “We are wholly committed to leading the market in consulting and advisory services worldwide.”
Russell Investment Group, a Washington USA corporation, operates through subsidiaries worldwide, including Russell Investments, and is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. Issued by Russell Investment Management Ltd ABN 53 068 338 974, AFS Licence 247185 (“RIM”). This document provides general information only and has not been prepared having regard to your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision, you need to consider whether this information is appropriate to your objectives, financial situation and needs. This information has been compiled from sources considered to be reliable, but is not guaranteed. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Any potential investor should consider the latest Product Disclosure Statement (“PDS”) in deciding whether to acquire, or to continue to hold, an investment in any Russell product. The PDS can be obtained by visiting www.russell.com.au or by phoning (02) 9229 5111. RIM is part of Russell Investments (“Russell”). Russell or its associates, officers or employees may have interests in the financial products referred to in this information by acting in various roles including broker or adviser, and may receive fees, brokerage or commissions for acting in these capacities. In addition, Russell or its associates, officers or employees may buy or sell the financial products as principal or agent. MKT/2050/0509