Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Expands Non-Proprietary Distribution

    Business Editors

    PLAINSBORO, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 1, 2005--Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) announced today that its non-proprietary distribution channel, branded Mercury Advisors, has added six new regional vice presidents to its sales team. These new appointments will join a group dedicated to sales and distribution outside of Merrill Lynch and are part of Mercury's continued growth strategy for the non-proprietary business.
    Joining the sales team are: William Cavey covering the mid-Atlantic and southeast; Patrick Evans covering the southwest; Frank Harmon covering the northern mid-west; Scott Hyster covering the northwest; Steven Simons covering the southeast; and Douglas Vaaler covering the mid-west and Great Plains. In addition, Michael Horvath was promoted from Mercury's internal sales group to the regional vice president responsible for southern Texas and Louisiana. These new regional vice presidents will report to Harold Clemons, director and head of national sales for Mercury's sales team. With these new appointments, Mercury Advisors now has 15 regional vice presidents covering territories across the United States.
    "The addition of these new regional vice presidents to Mercury's sales team helps expand our market penetration and gives us the ability to provide more targeted reach within each territory," said Daniel Dart, chief operating officer of MLIM's non-proprietary distribution business in the Americas. "This group brings tremendous expertise to Mercury Advisors and I am excited to welcome them to our sales team."
    William Cavey joins Mercury from PBHG Fund Distributors where he was a regional vice president. Prior to that, Bill worked as a national sales manager at Wachovia Corporation, Inc. Bill also worked as a regional vice president at Evergreen Investments.
    Prior to joining Mercury Advisors, Patrick Evans was a regional consultant with Goldman Sachs where he co-managed two territories in the investment consulting group channel. In this role, he was responsible for selling separately managed accounts, mutual funds and 401(k)s to financial advisors in the major wirehouse firms.
    Frank Harmon brings over ten years of experience in the financial services industry to his new role at Mercury Advisors. Most recently, he was a senior regional sales representative at Deutsche Bank, responsible for the distribution of separately managed accounts, open and closed-end funds, offshore funds, hedge funds, variable annuities and retirement plans in the Los Angeles territory. Prior to that, he was in an internal sales role at Calamos and Nuveen.
    Scott Hyster joins Mercury Advisors with over 12 years of financial services industry experience. Scott spent his first five years as a registered representative with Piper Jaffary Inc. and the last seven years with companies that include US Bancorp, Mutual of Omaha and National City Bank. While at these firms, Scott built the distribution network for separately managed accounts, mutual funds, variable annuities and retirement products to national and regional wirehouses, independent broker-dealers and bank broker-dealers throughout the western United States.
    Prior to joining the Mercury team, Steven Simons worked as a regional sales professional for Claymore Securities responsible for the distribution of closed-end funds, unit investment trusts and separately managed accounts in Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas. Steven also worked at Goldman Sachs as a regional consultant in the southeast region.
    Douglas Vaaler joins Mercury Advisors from Prudential Financial where he worked as regional sales professional specializing in annuities. Prior to that, Douglas was a regional sales professional at AG Edwards responsible for the day-to-day contact with annuity distributors, as well as coordinating product development. Douglas also worked as an investment executive at Paine Webber and he began his career as an options trader at Hull Trading Company in Chicago.
    Mercury Advisors is also expanding distribution opportunities within the independent advisor channel. To that end, the firm has promoted John Hayes from its internal sales group to the vice president for the registered investment advisor group.
    Mercury Advisors, a division of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, is dedicated to the distribution of an extensive array of innovative investment solutions to partner firms in the financial services industry. These products include: separately managed accounts, private investment portfolios, alternative investment products, open and closed end funds.
    Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) is one of the world's leading financial management and advisory companies with offices in 36 countries and total client assets of approximately $1.6 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global underwriter of debt and equity securities and strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals worldwide. Through Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, the company is one of the world's largest managers of financial assets. Firmwide, assets under management total $501 billion. For more information on Merrill Lynch, please visit www.ml.com.

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CONTACT: Merrill Lynch Media Relations Megan Frank, 212-449-7284 megan_frank@ml.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA NEW YORK NEW JERSEY INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BANKING MANAGEMENT CHANGES SOURCE: Merrill Lynch

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