Fifth Third/The Ohio Company has created a Strategic Communications & Technology Unit Investment Trust. The trust will buy a fixed portfolio of stocks in 44 software, Internet, telecommunications, hardware, networking, equipment and semi-conductor companies like America Online, AT&T, Dell Computers and Motorola. Investors can buy units of the trust for an initial offering price of $10 per unit, at a minimum initial investment of $1,000.
Phoenix Systems announces euro conversion software
Phoenix Systems of Georgia announced the release of euro conversion software that is compatible with its FUNDS/NET shareholder record- keeping system. The software will recalculate balances in a fund, using euros. Despite the conversion to euros, the number of fund shares in each account will remain the same.
Evergreen merges international funds
Evergreen Funds merged the Evergreen International Equity Fund into the larger Evergreen International Growth Fund on Oct. 23. The Evergreen International Equity Fund had about $222 million in assets under management. The fund had been managed by Warburg Pincus Counsellors since October, 1996. The merger marks the third instance of Evergreen bringing the investment management of a global or international fund in house.
Industry Moves
Beverly J. Moore, who for five years served as national sales manager for the Winthrop Mutual Funds, has been appointed senior vice president, director of marketing and public relations for DLJ Asset Management Group. While she was at Winthrop Mutual, the assets in the fund complex grew significantly.
Ron Gwozdz has been appointed senior vice president and managing director of Fleet Investment Advisors' Large Institutional Sales and Client Services. He will lead a team that will focus on the strategic management and growth of Fleet's institutional client base. Gwordz was executive vice president and director of marketing at David L. Babson & Co. from 1991 to 1998. He was responsible for institutional marketing, sales and client services. Prior to that, he was president of Fidelity's Plymouth Funds -- now known as Fidelity Advisor Funds.
William Keithler has been hired by Invesco Funds Group to be lead manager of the $945 million Invesco Strategic Technology Fund. He will be named a global partner and will take control of the fund in January. Keithler succeeds Daniel Leonard, who is retiring and will take an advisory role. Keithler had worked at Invesco for about seven years until 1993. He left to join Berger Associates, a mutual fund unit of Kansas City Southern Industries, where he most recently oversaw the Berger Small Company Growth Fund and the Berger New Generation Fund.
Henry Merrill and Michael DeBaecke have joined John Nuveen Company as vice presidents. Merrill will be covering the Northern California, Pacific Northwest and Mountain territory. Previously, he was with BA Investment Services, where he was responsible for marketing all of Bank of America's proprietary investment products. He also supervised three other wholesalers. DeBaecke will cover the metropolitan New York and New England regions. Previously, he worked at Nationwide as a regional marketing director for the Mid-Atlantic states, where he was responsible for the sales of a diversified line of annuity products to financial institutions.
William E. "Chip" Hoover and Edward Bardowski have been hired by SEI as part of the expansion of its San Francisco office. Hoover will be vice-president/managing director of western sales. In that capacity he will be in charge of marketing pension plans, endowments and trusts to corporate clients. Hoover comes to SEI from Oracle Corporation, where he was southwest regional vice-president/sales. Bardowski, a former product specialist, had been at SEI's Oaks, PA headquarters for more than three years.
Richard A. Monaghan has been named chief of Putnam Investments' mutual fund division. Previously, he had worked for 13 years at Merrill Lynch, most recently as managing director and head of U.S. debt and equity for the institutional client division. Monaghan, who is expected to join Putnam in December, succeeds William N. Shiebler, who last year announced he planned to retire. In his new role, Monaghan will manage Putnam's retail mutual fund sales, marketing and client service organization, and oversee a staff of 370.
Nicholas S. Bellino and Lori D. Powell were both named regional sales directors for COVA Financial Services Life Insurance Company. Bellino will be responsible for states east of the Mississippi River. Before joining COVA, he was vice president of Lincoln National Financial Institution Group in Pittsburgh where he managed the wholesale distribution of fixed and variable annuitites along with universal life investment programs. Powell will cover states west of the Mississippi. She previously worked as a vice president and key accounts manager with MFS Fund Distributors.
