New CEO at Russell Investments: Len Brennan

(July 13, 2011) — Seattle, Washington-based Russell Investments has appointed Len Brennan as its new president and chief executive officer.

Brennan succeeds Chief Executive Andrew Doman, who joined Russell in 2009 to become its seventh CEO. According to the company, Doman will take on a consultative role as chairman of its board.

“I believe we have found in Len the right successor to take Russell to the next stage of the firm’s growth,” Doman said in a statement. “Len is one of the architects of what Russell is today.”

Brennan has spent most of his career at Russell, working for the firm from 1985 to 2005, most recently as chief executive of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business. He will resume serving in that role along with his new duties, the company said. For the past six years, he has worked as president and CEO at Rainier Investment Management, also in Seattle.

“Russell has held an important place in my life for more than 25 years, so I am deeply honored to accept the position of president and CEO, and I am fortunate to have such a strong global leadership team to work side-by-side with me,” he said in a statement. “I want to thank Andrew Doman for his many contributions to the company. Russell is clearly a stronger and better positioned firm than it was when Andrew joined us. Looking forward, my priorities for Russell are to constantly evolve our business in order to meet the changing needs of our clients globally, while preserving the DNA that has made this company exceptional for 75 years. I am committed to ensuring that our core values and purpose as an organization remain unchanging guideposts for everything that we do.”

Russell Investments — which has about $161 billion in assets under management, and about $2 trillion in assets that it consults on — will mark its 75th anniversary this year.