First Mercantile Hosts Annual Conference for Investment Professionals

MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- First Mercantile, a leading provider of advisor-delivered retirement plans, hosted its annual conference in Memphis from April 21 - 23.  The theme of the conference -- "Ingredients for Collective Success" -- recognized the key role that investment professionals and First Mercantile play in each other's success.

This year's conference featured legislative updates, investment commentary from industry experts, and professional motivational speaker and ESPN radio personality Dr. Kevin Elko, and Alison Weiss, AVP, MassMutual Financial Group, among other speakers.  Discussion focused on First Mercantile's ingredients for collective success, including new materials and product enhancements designed to better serve investment professionals and help them grow their business.

Ian Sheridan, President and CEO of First Mercantile, welcomed the attendees to the event and shared his observation that attendance was substantially higher (almost 20%) than last year's conference. "We were thrilled at the turnout and consider our investment professional community to be a powerful ingredient in our success."

Stan Label, Vice President and National Sales Manager, reported that interest ran high in the growing popularity of collective investment trusts (CITs) and First Mercantile's expertise in this area. "We had many substantive discussions about how CITs and our other benefits can help investment professionals more effectively differentiate their practice," said Label.  "Great information sharing took place between the attendees."

First Mercantile reports that the vast majority of conference attendees surveyed rated the conference theme, format, session topics and speakers as "good" or "excellent," and fully 100% of those surveyed responded that they would attend next year's conference.  Favorite sessions included the legislative and political updates, the money managers' presentations and the Investment Professionals panel discussion.

For more information about First Mercantile, please contact your investment professional, or contact First Mercantile at 800-753-3682 or visit our website www.firstmerc.com.

SOURCE First Mercantile