Daniel J. Houston Named to Employee Benefit Research Institute Board of Trustees

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Daniel J. Houston, president of Retirement and Investor Services at the Principal Financial Group^®, has joined the board of trustees for the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) in Washington, D.C.

Houston replaces the board position previously held by Larry D. Zimpleman, president and chief executive officer of The Principal^®.

Established in 1978, EBRI is the only not for profit, nonpartisan organization committed to original public policy research and education on economic security and employee benefits. Today, EBRI is recognized as one of the most authoritative and objective resources in the world on employee benefit issues such as health care, pensions, and economic security.

The EBRI board consists of about 60 members who help determine the organization’s research and education priorities. For a full list of EBRI board members, please visit www.ebri.org/about/members/.

About the Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group^® (The Principal ^®)¹ is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $287.4 billion in assets under management² and serves some 19.0 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

¹ "The Principal Financial Group" and “The Principal” are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

² As of September 30, 2008