Charles Schwab Investment Management Expands Executive Team With Three New Appointments

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Charles Schwab Corporation today announced three new leaders within Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (CSIM), the investment advisor to Schwab and Laudus Funds.

“CSIM also provides best-in-class investment acumen by offering an array of sub-advised and multi-manager strategies to retail, Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and 401(k) clients.”

Omar Aguilar has joined CSIM as senior vice president and chief investment officer of equities and multi-asset strategies, responsible for the investment oversight of Schwab and Laudus equity funds, as well as proprietary equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Brett Wander joins as senior vice president and chief investment officer of fixed income, overseeing all Schwab money market and fixed income strategies. Vice president John Sturiale is shifting roles at Schwab to take on expanded responsibilities in CSIM leading equity and fixed income product management, including responsibility for the ETF capital markets and portfolio strategy functions; he will continue collective trust funds oversight.

Aguilar, Wander and Sturiale all report to CSIM president and CEO Marie A. Chandoha, who joined Schwab in September from BlackRock where she was global head of fixed income.

“I am very pleased to have this exceptional leadership team in place,” said Chandoha. ”These are very experienced leaders who – alongside each one of the 120 employees in CSIM -- are focused on providing institutional-quality investment products for our clients.”

Chandoha described the CSIM product set as “a set of core products that form the basic, low-cost building blocks of our clients’ portfolios – money funds, ETFs, and index funds.” She added, importantly, “CSIM also provides best-in-class investment acumen by offering an array of sub-advised and multi-manager strategies to retail, Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and 401(k) clients.”

Aguilar joins CSIM from Financial Engines where he was responsible for managing more than $40 billion in assets from leading retirement plan sponsors in the defined contribution market. Prior to joining Financial Engines, Aguilar was the head of Quantitative Equity for ING Investment Management, where he was responsible for building and developing the firm's quantitative equity group, managing more than $20 billion in assets with 15 global active, index and enhanced index strategies for pensions funds, variable annuities, and mutual funds. He joined ING in 2004 from Lehman Brothers, where he served as the head of Quantitative Research for their alternative investment management business. Prior to that, he was a director of quantitative research and portfolio manager with Merrill Lynch Investment Management and Bankers Trust. Aguilar was a Fulbright Scholar at Duke University’s Institute of Statistics and Decisions Sciences, where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. He completed a B.S. in actuarial sciences and a graduate degree in applied statistics from the Mexican Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM).

Wander joins CSIM from State Street Global Advisors where he successfully rebuilt the firm’s active fixed-income business. He was responsible for $30 billion in fixed income strategies including short duration, U.S. and global active, stable value, and ETFs. Previously, he was Director of Alpha Strategies at Loomis Sayles where he designed, launched and managed fixed income absolute return strategies. He also held fixed income leadership positions at State Street Research, and at Payden and Rygel. Wander received his MBA from the University of Chicago and B.S. in System Science Engineering from UCLA.

Sturiale has been with Schwab for 11 years. During his tenure, he has focused on building the firm’s Collective Trust Fund line-up which now has $12 billion in AUM. He has more than 22 years of investment experience in the institutional investment setting, previously spending three years as a team leader and senior portfolio manager with National City Bank and seven years as an investment analyst and senior portfolio manager with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Sturiale, a certified financial planner, earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Akron and an M.B.A. from Ashland University.

About Charles Schwab Investment Management

Founded in 1989, Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation, is one of the nation's largest asset management companies with $218 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2011. It is among the country's largest money market fund managers and is the third-largest provider of retail index funds. In addition to managing Schwab ETFs™ and Schwab Funds®, CSIM is investment adviser for the institutional-style, sub-advised Laudus Fund family. CSIM currently manages more than 70 mutual funds, 13 exchange traded funds, and four separate account model portfolios.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) is a leading provider of financial services, with more than 300 offices and 8.1 million client brokerage accounts, 1.4 million corporate retirement plan participants, 736,000 banking accounts, and $1.7 trillion in client assets as of June 30, 2011. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”) (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and mortgage services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com. (0711-4337)

The Laudus Group® of Funds includes the Laudus Mondrian and Laudus Growth Investors Funds, which are part of the LaudusTrust and Laudus InstitutionalTrust and distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc; and the Laudus MarketMasters Funds®, which are part of the Schwab CapitalTrust and distributed by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. ALPS Distributors, Inc. and Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. are unaffiliated entities.