A key sales executive in State Street Corp.'s mutual fund division has jumped to a job with the banking company's fund distributor.
John S. Woodring, assistant vice president of State Street Global Advisors, joined Russell Fund Distributors as sales director for bank's proprietary SSgA Funds. He started work April 1 and is based in Boston.
The SSgA Funds have more than $10 billion of assets in 14 portfolios.
At State Street, where he worked for eight years, Mr. Woodring was responsible for promoting the SSgA Funds to internal clients, such as master trust accounts and corporate accounts. In his new post at Russell-a unit of Frank Russell Co., Tacoma, Wash.-he will direct sales of the SSgA Funds to institutional investors, such as retirement plans.
"It was a great opportunity for him to get some advancement," said Mr. Woodring's former boss, G.V. "Gus" Fish Jr., a principal of State Street Global Advisors. "At same time, he hasn't gone too far." He said Mr. Woodring's understanding of the State Street unit would be "very helpful."
Mr. Woodring succeeds William M. Thomas, who joined Scudder, Stevens & Clark Inc. in Boston earlier this year.
Russell Fund Distributors was set up to market Frank Russell Co.'s own mutual funds, which hold $30 billion of assets. State Street's proprietary fund family is its only outside client. Banks that manage mutual funds are generally forbidden from handling the range of underwriting duties that fall under the rubric of "fund distribution," necessitating the use of outside distributors.
State Street, in turn, provides an essential mutual fund service to Frank Russell Co.-it is custodian to the company's funds. Banks dominate the fund custody business, and State Street is one of the top players.
