Joseph Gelly appointed managing director, Canada Institutional at Russell Investments

• North American Industry leader joins Russell's Canadian Institutional team
• Gelly to lead the way in bringing best-in-class fiduciary solutions to Canadian pension plans that are looking for a more comprehensive investment model

TORONTO, June 17, 2013 /CNW/ - Russell Investments Canada has made a major investment in its institutional business, with the appointment of Joseph Gelly as Managing Director, Canada Institutional. Mr. Gelly will be leading efforts to bring Russell's multi-asset fiduciary solutions (e.g. investment outsourcing), implementation services and consulting to the Canadian institutional marketplace.

"Russell has worked as a consultant and an asset manager in the Canadian institutional marketplace for several decades, but we see a paradigm shift beginning to emerge. Executives are concerned about funded status volatility, left-tail events impacting company profitability, lack of infrastructure to adequately review risks and make necessary adjustments, and changing measures of success that are geared more toward outcomes than exceeding return benchmarks," said David Feather, president and chief executive officer, Russell Investments Canada. "Joseph has worked extensively with organizations to address these issues, and we are excited to have him lead the way in bringing best-in-class fiduciary solutions to the Canadian institutional marketplace."

Gelly, who will lead the veteran institutional team in Toronto, whose senior members include Bruce Curwood, director, investment strategy, and Tom Lappalainen, senior consultant, joins from Russell's Americas Institutional business where he most recently served as managing director, fiduciary solutions. Gelly has more than 25 years of industry experience, with an extensive background providing customized investment solutions to corporate, multi-employer, public sector and non-profit clients. In addition to driving awareness and consideration of fiduciary solutions for institutional investors, Gelly will provide strategic direction on best practices in governance, implementation and investment discretion to Russell's Canadian clients.

"We see the trend of fiduciary solutions, which has taken hold in the U.S., starting to emerge in Canada. Many Canadian pensions are facing very similar challenges to their U.S. and European counterparts," said Gelly. "Few organizations have the time, resources and governance structure required for daily portfolio oversight, optimization at the investment portfolio level to improve risk-return trade-offs and execution of real-time risk management and opportunistic portfolio allocations. For many plans, strategic advice and manager selection aren't enough anymore to achieve their objectives, given the challenges presented by market volatility and the low interest rate environment. That's where a true fiduciary solutions provider can add value in helping them to reach their desired outcomes."

Russell has worked with pensions, non-profits and healthcare systems as a fiduciary solutions provider for more than 30 years.

About Russell Investments

Russell Investments (Russell) is a global asset manager and one of only a few firms that offers actively managed multi-asset portfolios and services that include advice, investments and implementation. Working with institutional investors, financial advisors and individuals, Russell's core capabilities extend across capital market insights, manager research, portfolio construction, portfolio implementation and indexes.

Russell has more than $173 billion in global assets under management (as of 3/31/2013) and works with over 2,500 institutional clients, independent distribution partners and individual investors globally. As a consultant to some of the largest pools of capital in the world, Russell has $2.4 trillion in global assets under advisement (as of 6/30/2012). It has four decades of experience researching and selecting investment managers and meets annually with more than 2,200 managers around the world. Russell traded more than $1.4 trillion in 2012 through its implementation services business. Russell also calculates approximately 700,000 benchmarks daily covering 98% of the investable market globally, which includes more than 80 countries and more than 10,000 securities. Approximately $4.1 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the Russell Indexes.

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Russell operates globally, including through its offices in Seattle, New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Toronto, Chicago, San Diego, Milwaukee and Edinburgh. For more information about how Russell helps to improve financial security for people, visit www.russell.com or follow @Russell_News.

Important information

Nothing in this publication is intended to constitute legal, tax, securities or investment advice, nor an opinion regarding the appropriateness of any investment, nor a solicitation of any type. This information is made available on an "as is" basis. Russell Investments Canada Limited does not make any warranty or representation regarding the information.

Russell Investments and the Russell Investments logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Frank Russell Company, used under license by Russell Investments Canada Limited.

Russell Investments Canada Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Frank Russell Company and was established in 1985. Russell Investments Canada Limited and its affiliates, including Frank Russell Company, are collectively known as "Russell Investments".

Copyright © Russell Investments Canada Limited 2013. All rights reserved. This material is proprietary and may not be reproduced, transferred, or distributed in any form without prior written permission from Russell Investments.

SOURCE: Russell Investments Canada Limited

Rob Baird 
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Media Contact: Beja Rodeck
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