| Russell Investments | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1936 |
| Headquarters |  Tacoma, Washington |
| Key people | Craig Ueland, President & CEO Mike Phillips, Chairman Karl Ege, Vice Chairman |
| Industry | Financial Services |
| Employees | 2,000 (January 2007) |
| Website | www.russell.com |
Russell Investments is an investment firm with global reach, providing investment products and services to individuals and institutions in 44 countries. A pioneer in multi-manager investing, and the creator of Russell Indexes, Russell manages more than US$200 billion in assets and advises clients worldwide whose assets represent approximately US$2 trillion. Founded in 1936, Russell is a privately held subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual and is headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., U.S.A. Consistently ranked as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to work for, Russell has more than 2,000 associates in offices around the world. The company operates principal offices in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Toronto, San Francisco and New York.
Russell's clients include retirement plans, endowments, foundations and investment plans of all types. Investors have access to Russell's services through a network that includes many of the world's top banks, brokers, insurance companies and independent investment advisors.
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History
1936 — Local businessman Frank Russell starts a small brokerage firm in Tacoma, Washington. 1958 — George Russell joins his grandfather's firm, Frank Russell Company. Six months later, George becomes chairman, president and CEO when his grandfather dies. The company has two employees — George and an assistant. 1969 — George pioneers a new industry — strategic pension fund consulting — when he demonstrates his money manager evaluation process during a sales call to J.C. Penney and secures the giant U.S. retailer as his first client. Nearly four decades later, J.C. Penney remains a client. Russell begins managing money managers, instead of managing money, and opens a New York office to expand the concept nationally. 1974 — Russell's institutional consulting business grows from a single client to 40 major U.S. clients, including AT&T and General Motors. 1979 — Russell initiates its global presence with the opening of an office in London. 1980 — Russell launches its investment management business in response to a client's request for funds that provide a fully diversified and packaged blend of investment managers. Russell begins leveraging its research of outside managers to create a manager-of-managers investment process for smaller retirement plans and individuals. 1984 — Russell researchers create the Russell 1000®, Russell 2000®, and Russell 3000® Indexes as objective benchmarks for evaluating manager performance. 1986 — Russell opens an office in Tokyo, Japan, which has the second largest pension system behind the United States, and opens an office in Sydney, Australia, expanding to its fourth continent. 1988 — Russell dedicates a new headquarters building in Tacoma, Wash. Custom-designed by George and Jane Russell, the 12-story granite building reflects both urban and natural environments, with each floor capturing views of downtown Tacoma, Puget Sound, and Mt. Rainier, Washington’s tallest peak. 1990 — Mike Phillips is named president of Frank Russell Company. In 1993, he is named chief executive officer. George Russell continues as chairman. George Russell establishes Russell 20-20, a group of independent money managers and plan sponsors who explore emerging markets with an eye toward investment opportunities. 1999 — Northwestern Mutual, the largest provider of individual life insurance in the United States, acquires Russell. The company retains the Russell name, management, office locations and investment approach. For the first time, Russell appears on Fortune Magazine's "Best Companies to Work for in America" list, at number 15. 2002 — Serving as chairman since 1958, George Russell retires, retaining the role of chairman emeritus for Frank Russell Company and Russell 20-20. 2003 — Russell changes its business name to Russell Investment Group to better reflect its wide range of investment solutions. Craig Ueland is appointed president of Russell in July 2003 and then CEO effective January 2004. 2004 — In March, Russell acquires Pantheon, the global private equity fund-of-funds specialist headquartered in London. In March, Russell acquires the Australian HR services operation of Towers Perrin. 2007 — Russell introduces its family of global indexes. The Russell Global Index captures 98% of the global equity market, reflecting the performance of more than 10,000 stocks worldwide. Russell indexes surpass US$4 trillion in benchmarked assets. For the sixth time since 1999, Russell is ranked among the top 100 of Fortune Magazine's "Best Companies to Work for in America" list.
Products and Services
Investment Consulting
Russell follows a disciplined investment consulting process that guides many of the world's largest investors. Clients' assets total approximately US$2 trillion.
Investment Management
Russell manages more than US$219 billion in assets in about 320 funds, allowing comprehensive and strategic diversification covering the range of asset classes.
Manager and Product Research
Through a proprietary process of objective analysis and face-to-face interviews, Russell selects some of the world's best money managers. From a global pool of more than 8,000 manager products, Russell selects fewer than 200 manager products. This disciplined process builds portfolios of complementary money managers. Known as Multi-Asset, Multi-Style, Multi-Manager™, the process allows investors to focus on the benefits of long-term diversification, active management and goal-oriented planning.
Russell Indexes
The Russell Global Index today reflects the performance of more than 10,000 stocks worldwide which includes the Russell 3000 as its U.S. component. Russell's innovative index design has led to more assets benchmarked to Russell's U.S. index family than all other U.S. equity indexes combined. As of May 2007, Russell's U.S. indexes have US$4 trillion in assets benchmarked to them and account for 52 percent of assets benchmarked by U.S. institutional investors.
Alternative Investments
Russell researches and provides expertise in alternative investment opportunities around the world including real estate, hedge funds and private equities to provide clients with a high-quality, well-diversified approach to alternative investing.
Investment Services
Russell provides a full range of investment services to large pension plans, institutional investors, foundations, endowments and investment plans of all types. These services include portfolio management, transition strategies, commission management, cash management, derivatives exposures and agency foreign exchange. They are designed to improve investment performance and minimize the costs and risks of complex investment implementations.
Russell Retirement Services
In North America, Russell delivers target date and target portfolio products directly to Defined Contribution (DC) plan sponsors, as well as distributes LifePoints® Funds through financial professionals who advise some of the country's top-tier retirement plan providers. This distribution system is in response to increasing demand for Russell's multi-manager solutions, which enable plan sponsors to give DC plan participants, such as 401(k) plan participants, access to some of the world's best money managers through Russell's objective, institutional-quality approach.
Community
Russell's civic ethic includes active involvement in the communities where associates live and work. Russell invests in communities through focused giving to financial literacy and children, corporate giving and a cash-matching program for associate contributions of time and money.
