PFM Managing Director and Chief Information Officer Kerry R. Benson Named Award Recipient for 2011 Philadelphia Business Journal Minority Business Leader Awards

PHILADELPHIA, July 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Philadelphia Business Journal  has announced that Kerry R. Benson, Managing Director and Chief Information Officer  of PFM Group, will be honored as a 2011 Minority Business Leader award recipient.  The region's most notable minority leaders, who have contributed not just in business, but to the benefit of their communities, will be recognized on Thursday, August 4, 2011 from 7:30 am to 9:30 am at the Crystal Tea Room in the Wannamaker Building in Philadelphia, PA.

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"We are very pleased to see that Kerry's leadership qualities and outstanding work, not just for the PFM Group, but for the communities we serve, has been recognized in the Philadelphia media," said PFM CEO F. John White. "It is one of our ongoing corporate missions to have a positive impact on the communities in which we live and work, and Kerry exemplifies that PFM tradition," he noted.

Mr. White also emphasized PFM's focus on hiring and promoting minorities and women at all levels of the PFM organization. "We have always worked hard to have an organization that reflects the populations of the municipalities and organizations who are our clients," he explained. "Our goal is to recruit and promote the most capable individuals we can find, and Kerry Benson clearly represents one of those successes."

Kerry has been a Managing Director & Chief Information Officer of PFM, the nation's leading provider of independent financial and investment advisory services, since 2007. He drives the technology strategy for The PFM Group, overseeing all firm-wide information technology initiatives and resources, including application development, infrastructure management, outsourcing, business process resign, and business continuity, and recently directed the modernization of PFM's technology platform.  

He has also become a mentor and advocate for minority employees at all levels throughout the firm, making sure that all staff have equal opportunities to vocalize their ideas, demonstrate leadership, and learn new skills. He currently manages the most diverse staff in the firm.

A product of  the urban community in New York City, Kerry has been active as a community volunteer for many years.  He is a motivational speaker who developed the "Seeds and Seasons" life planning model for minority youth designed to provide them a holistic framework for planning and managing their lives.  Kerry is also a Youth Entrepreneurship trainer, a provider of affordable housing in South Jersey and a coach for ten-year old boys basketball and soccer teams.

The PFM Group currently employs more than 445 professionals serving a broad base of clients from 31 offices located in every region of the country. The firm is well respected for providing clients with independent advisory services free of conflicts in their dealings with the capital markets. Public Financial Management, Inc., part of the PFM Group companies, was the top-ranked independent financial advisory firm in the nation in almost every major category at June 30, 2011, according to Thomson-Reuters, advising on more than $15.5 billion of total debt in 352 separate transactions during the first half of this year alone. Since its founding in 1974, PFM has provided independent financial advisory services to local, state, and regional government and non-profit clients throughout the United States in their dealings with the capital markets. PFM Asset Management LLC (PFMAM), also part of the PFM Group of companies, is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. PFMAM had $40.7 billion in assets under management and provided investment consulting services for an additional $19.6 billion in securities as of June 30, 2011. PFM’s clients are state and local governments, non-profit corporations, pension funds, and similar institutional investors. The PFM Group of companies also provides best practices strategic consulting and pension advisory consulting services.

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Kerry Benson and his family reside in Mt. Laurel, NJ.

He is a graduate of Bernard M. Baruch College in New York City and has an MBA in Finance from New York University, Stern Business School.

SOURCE The PFM Group