Russell Investments is a global asset management firm, founded in 1936. It provides multi-asset investing solutions to institutional investors, as well as to individuals via financial advisors. The company is owned by private equity firms TA Associates and Reverence Capital Partners.
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.
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 benchmarks for evaluating manager performance. Russell opens an office in Toronto, Ontario.
1986 — Russell opens an office in Tokyo, Japan and opens an office in Sydney, Australia.
1988 — Russell dedicates a new headquarters building in Tacoma, Wash.
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 — Russell expands to Singapore. 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.
2002 — 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. Craig Ueland is appointed president of Russell in July 2003 and then CEO effective January 2004.
2004 — In March, Russell acquires Pantheon Ventures, the global private equity fund-of-funds specialist headquartered in London. In August, Russell acquires the Australian HR services operation of Towers Perrin.
2007 — Russell's family of U.S. equity indexes goes global with the launch of a family of global stock indexes. Russell opens an office in Seoul, Korea.
2008 — Russell investments announced that they might leave Tacoma, having outgrown their old headquarters. The lease on the headquarters on A Street expires in 2013. Local government officials, wary of losing the biggest company in downtown Tacoma, have started an attractive campaign to keep Russell in Tacoma, including plans for a brand new headquarters.
2009 — ::Russell’s Board of Directors named Andrew Doman as Russell’s new Chief Executive Officer. Andrew Doman assumed role of President upon John Schlifske's return to Northwestern Mutual. :: Russell Investments said they would move headquarters from Tacoma to Chase Center in Seattle.
2010 — Russell Investments completes move of headquarters to Seattle. The former Chase Center building is now renamed Russell Investments Center.
2011 — ::Russell's Board of Directors named Len Brennan as Russell's new Chief Executive Officer. He is also chief executive of the firm's Europe, Middle East, Africa business. ::Russell Investments opens its first regional office in Germany with the launch of Frankfurt operations during October.
2014 — Northwestern Mutual sells Russell Investments to London Stock Exchange Group for $2.7 billion.
2015 — LSEG separates Russell's Index business from the consulting, asset management and consulting business by forming "FTSE Russell" brand
2016 — London Stock Exchange Group completes sale of Russell Investments to TA Associates and Reverence Capital Partners for $1.15 billion. LSEG kept the indexes side of the business as FTSE Russell.
2017 — Willis Towers Watson signs a definitive agreement to acquire its stand-alone Australian actuarial business for an undisclosed sum.
Products and services
Russell provides financial and investment services to institutional clients such as pension funds, non-profits, healthcare systems and defined contribution plans. Individual investors can access these services through one of Russell's 580 partners, such as banks, brokers and insurance companies.
Russell launched its family of U.S. indexes in 1984 to measure the U.S. market segments. The resulting methodology produced the broad market Russell 3000 Index and the small-cap Russell 2000 Index. The Russell Global Index, introduced in 2007, captures 98% of the global equity market and reflects the performance of more than 10,000 stocks worldwide. As of June 30, 2008, Russell's U.S. indexes have US$4.0 trillion in assets benchmarked to them and account for 63.3 percent of U.S. equity products benchmarked by U.S. institutional investors. Russell/Nomura equity indexes (calculated with Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.) offer broad market or style benchmarks for investors in Japan.
After purchasing all of Russell from NorthWest Mutual in 2014, the London Stock Exchange Group announced on May 18, 2015 the launch of ‘FTSE Russell’, the new integrated name created for the combined businesses of FTSE Group and Russell Indexes. Effectively splitting out the index business from Russell's advice, asset management and investment management offerings, FTSE Russell will now operate as one joint global index business which is no longer owned by Russell Investments or TA Associates.
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.
