David Feather joins Russell Investments

Russell Investments has announced the hiring of mutual fund industry veteran David Feather as president and managing director of Russell Investments Canada Limited (Russell Canada).

“David is well-known and highly respected in the Canadian investment industry, and we are delighted to have someone of his caliber leading our Canadian operations as we continue to enhance our investment services and commitment to our institutional, consulting and retail clients,” said Andrew Doman, Russell’s global CEO.

In joining Russell, Feather leaves his post as president of Mackenzie Financial Services Inc., having joined that firm in 1991. Mackenzie has struggled to maintain assets over the past few years.

According to data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, Mackenzie’s assets under management at the end of February totaled $40.1 billion. Just two years earlier, AUM had been $43.2 billion, a decline of about 7.2%.

(CORRECTION: The original version of this article incorrectly cited Mackenzie’s most recently reported AUM as $30.1 billion. Advisor.ca apologizes for the inaccuracy of this initial report.)

Focusing largely on institutional money management, Russell has been partially insulated from the whims of retail investors. At the end of February 2010, Russell’s Canadian operation had almost $9.6 billion in assets under management, down from $10.1 billion at the end of February 2008 — a drop of 5%.

“I have always admired Russell for its long history of innovation and renowned reputation for investment research expertise,” Feather said. “As such, I am honored and excited to be joining the company and look forward to working closely with our clients and partners.”

(03/23/10)