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Brinker Capital has hired 12-year industry veteran Leo Dolan as a principal with the firm, where he will join the senior management team in evaluating each aspect of the company's operations as it gears up for extensive future growth through financial advisers.

Gartmore Global Investments has hired Wilson Santos as EVP of distribution, reporting to president and CEO D. Bruce Johnston. As one of the first to bring registered hedge funds to market, Santos joins Gartmore from Montgomery Asset Management, where he served as EVP and chief marketing officer.

Michael Radziemski is now the chief information officer for Lord, Abbett & Co., reporting to Robert S. Dow, managing partner of the firm.

Alliance Capital Management Holding and Alliance Capital Management have appointed Lewis Sanders as CEO of Alliance Capital, effective June 30. Most recently, Sanders served as director, vice chairman and CIO of Alliance Capital. Prior to that, he was chairman and CEO of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Sanders is a CFA, a NYSE supervisory analyst and previously a member of the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team for four years.

Alliance Capital Management has expanded its partnership with Sanford C. Bernstein and will rename its mutual fund distribution branch, Alliance Fund Distributors, AllianceBernstein Investment Research and Management, effective March 31, along with putting the AllianceBernstein moniker on its domestic mutual funds.

Harvard will liquidate investments in two close-end funds run by Templeton, a unit of Franklin Resources, after both sides agreed to drop lawsuits against each other, Templeton announced Thursday.

Just a decade old, exchange-traded products have now garnered more than $102 billion in assets, according to Morgan Stanley data.

More than one in three workers would consider dipping into their retirement savings early if they were to lose their job, despite knowing the consequences of an early withdrawal, according to a recent survey by American Century Investments.

Investors are preoccupied with sales fees, when they should really be looking at funds' operating expenses - the net result of which has been the mutual fund industry's preoccupation with no-load funds. That's the conclusion of a report by a team from the University of Michigan and the University of California at the Berkeley and Davis campuses.

Despite their dismal performance in parts of Europe and high expenses, multi-manager investments still appeal to fund investors seeking diversification and minimum risks, and are showing strong momentum in Asia-Pacific area, according to a latest report by research firm Cerulli Associates of Boston.

Martin Schulz has seen the correlation between the U.S. markets and U.S. military conflicts abroad firsthand - and from both sides of the coin. Schulz, director of international equity investments for National City Investment Management Co., advisor to the Armada Funds, is also a major in the U.S. Army Reserve and recently returned from duty in Afghanistan. Deployed at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan from August until November of last year for Operation Enduring Freedom, Schulz served in the civil affairs and psychological operations command unit. Shultz recently spoke with Mutual Fund Market News Associate Editor Chris Frankie on his views on the current war in Iraq, its impact on the markets and the role of the media and technology in the conflict. He also talked about his unique perspective on the effects of psychological campaigns on soldiers, average citizens and the investing public.

Margin pressures may hasten the pace of consolidation in the fund industry, indicates a report from Lipper of New York, issued last week.

Fund sponsors have to be sure to invest as they've promised or face litigation, said industry insiders. "If you don't invest the way you say you will, you are opening yourself up for liability, especially if there are losses," said Benjamin Bornstein, president of Prospero Capital Management of Columbus, Ohio, which runs three SEC-registered funds, two of which by design, employ hedging strategies. While the exact portfolio movements done under cover of traditional hedge funds can be elusive, by their very structure SEC-registered hedge funds are almost as transparent as traditional mutual funds, Bornstein said. "It would be pretty obvious if the fund was not being run the way it was supposed to have been," he added. Fund sponsors, investment advisors and a fund's board of directors are responsible for reviewing performance as it compares to other assets the same investment firm manages, and should be asking why where disparity exists, said one fund attorney.

Asset management professionals and the firms that pay them have separately managed accounts (SMAs) on the brain, and for good reason.

The fund industry has lost one of its rare leaders. Dr. J. Elliot ("Jack") Corbett died March 18 at age 82.

The House Subcommittee on Capital Markets will schedule at least one hearing to understand how hedge funds affect financial markets and whether they should be regulated, Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), and Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA), announced yesterday.

NASD issued an investor warning yesterday on principal-protection funds’ higher fees, potentially lower long-term capital gains and required long holding periods.

Outflows from stock mutual funds topped $11 billion, the Investment Company Institute announced yesterday.

Pacific Life and Allianz have agreed that PacLife will not exercise its option to sell Allianz the remaining portion of its ownership of investment manager PIMCO, approximately a third, over the next two years. After Allianz purchased the lion’s share of the company in 2000, it structured its agreement with PacLife with put and call options for the two parties to exercise any time starting in 2003.

Some financial firms are urging investors seeking higher returns to convert cash into short-term bond funds, Reuters reports.