Dimensional Fund Advisors Expands Outreach to Independent Broker/Dealers

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Dimensional Fund Advisors announced today that it has hired John Blood, formerly with Commonwealth Financial, to lead a new initiative to develop strategic relationships within the broker/dealer community.

"We are establishing selling agreements with select independent broker/dealers that will allow their fee-based advisors to provide clients with Dimensional strategies," said Michael Lane, Vice President and head of Dimensional's broker/dealer, bank trust and TAMP (third party asset management provider) programs. "John's investment and industry experience will be invaluable to us as we expand our presence within this important industry segment."

"This outreach will be consistent with our approach with fee-only advisors and complements the successful partnerships that Dimensional has developed over the past 20 years with TAMPs," Lane continued. "TAMPs are a perfect fit for advisors who are seeking support in areas such as operations and marketing. Our broker/dealer program will focus on serving advisors who have their own operations and marketing resources and want to work with Dimensional to develop opportunities for mutual growth."

John Blood, CFA, joins Dimensional from Commonwealth Financial, where he was the firm's chief market strategist and vice president of investments. In this role, he provided investment advice on mutual funds, ETFs, and other investment products to 1400 independent financial advisors. He has an MBA and an MS in Finance from Boston College.

Dimensional Fund Advisors is a global institutional asset management firm owned primarily by employees and directors. The firm's broadly diversified mutual funds are engineered and managed to precisely target dimensions of risk and capture their expected returns. As of December 31, 2009, Dimensional had $165 billion in assets under management. The firm has offices in Austin, London, Santa Monica, Sydney, and Vancouver.

SOURCE Dimensional Fund Advisors