Howard Atkinson wins ACTIF's "Financial Educator" Award

Canadian ETF Pioneer Recognized at ACTIF's 10th Anniversary Gala

TORONTO, Feb. 17 /CNW/ - Howard Atkinson, President of Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. ("Horizons ETFs"), has been recognized for his work as an author and educator in financial literacy by ACTIF, Quebec's premier financial education co-operative. Mr. Atkinson was given the award as Top Educator (Le Mérite du représentant pedagogue) at the organization's 10th anniversary gala last Friday in Montreal.

The award was in recognition of the hard work Mr. Atkinson has undertaken with ACTIF since its inception a decade ago to increase the level of financial literacy amongst both Quebec investors and financial professionals. In particular, Mr. Atkinson has worked tirelessly to increase the awareness about the benefits and effective usage of exchange traded funds.

"Education is a lifelong process. I believe every new evolution in this industry is an opportunity to learn and educate others." Atkinson says. "This award is gratifying personally, but it really belongs to a dedicated group of ETF pioneers, including the Horizons ETFs team, all of whom have worked hard to help Canadians better understand investing. For us, an educated investor is an empowered investor who makes better decisions, which can only benefit the investment industry."

As President of Horizons ETFs, Mr. Atkinson has been fundamental to the firm's educational initiatives. He developed Horizons ETF University, a full-day course to educate advisors on exchange traded funds, from the history of ETFs to more complex trading strategies. As well, he authored the core content for the Canadian Securities Institute's ETF course, which launched in January of 2010.

Adam Felesky, the CEO of Horizons ETFs, congratulated Mr. Atkinson on the award, whom he called a true pioneer in the ETF space.

"When it comes to ETFs, I can think of only a few people in the world that speak with the knowledge and authority that Howard does. He is unrivaled when it comes to education on ETFs," Felesky says. "Howard's dedication, hard work and passion are a great example for all of us at Horizons ETFs and the financial industry as a whole."

Mr. Atkinson wrote the first book in the world devoted entirely to exchange traded funds, The New Investment Frontier: A Guide to Exchange Traded Funds for Canadians, (Insomniac Press, 2001). In total, he is the author of four books, including Les Fonds Négociés en Bourse: Un outil de placement novateur pour l'investisseur avisé (Transcontinental, 2003) and The New Investment Frontier III: A Guide to Exchange Traded Funds for Canadians, (Insomniac Press, 2005).

He has also been a contributing writer and frequent analyst referenced in many major Canadian newspapers, including The Globe & Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun, and Ottawa Citizen. He is a regular guest on BNN and CP24, and has appeared several times on CNBC Europe and Global TV. He is a past President of Toronto CFA Society board of directors and is a member of the S&P/TSX Canada Index Advisory Panel.

About Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. (www.HorizonsETFs.com)

Horizons Exchange Traded Funds Inc. is a leading provider of innovative investment solutions allowing investors to profit or protect in various market conditions, or to reduce their risk by hedging their existing market exposure. Horizons ETFs is the exclusive distributor of Horizons BetaPro ETFs and Horizons AlphaPro ETFs.

BetaPro Management Inc., the manager and the trustee of Horizons BetaPro ETFs, offers three types of structures: Bull+/Bear+ leveraged ETFs, Single ETFs, and Inverse ETFs. The HBP Bull+ ETFs and HBP Bear+ ETFs are designed to provide daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to double the daily performance, or double the inverse daily performance, respectively, of their specified underlying index or benchmark. The HBP Inverse ETFs are designed to provide daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to one times the inverse of their specified underlying index or benchmark. The HBP Single ETFs are designed to provide investment results, before fees, expenses, distributions, brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, that endeavour to correspond to the performance of its specified underlying index. BetaPro currently manages approximately $2.5 billion amongst 41 ETFs.

AlphaPro Management Inc., the manager and the trustee of the Horizons AlphaPro ETFs, is Canada's sole provider of actively managed ETFs. AlphaPro is a subsidiary of BetaPro Management Inc. and manages approximately $162 million across 9 ETFs and investment funds. BetaPro and AlphaPro are both subsidiaries of Jovian Capital Corporation ("JOV:TSX"), and members of the Jovian group of companies, which manages $12.0 billion of client assets ($7.0 billion in assets under management and $5.0 billion in assets under administration)

For further information: Don Sangster, Investor Relations, Jovian Capital Corporation, [phone]; www.actif.net