SAN MATEO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Franklin Templeton today announced that Adam Spector will become EVP, Head of Global Distribution, overseeing global retail and institutional distribution, including marketing and product strategy, reporting to President and CEO Jenny Johnson. Subject to completion of the firm’s acquisition of Legg Mason, expected on July 31, 2020, Spector will assume this new role effective October 1, 2020.
Spector currently serves as Managing Partner of Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC, a specialist investment organization within Legg Mason, and will retain and remain fully committed to that role as he takes on this broader strategic role for the combined firm. With an experienced leadership team supporting Spector, Brandywine Global’s brand, investment independence and dedicated client service model will remain unchanged.
“The acquisition of Legg Mason will establish Franklin Templeton as one of the world’s largest independent asset managers, with approximately $1.4 trillion in assets under management globally,” said Johnson. “Adam Spector is a veteran business and distribution leader, with over two decades of experience with Brandywine Global and more than three decades in the industry. He will be responsible for leading our new regionalized distribution model with the goal of heightening responsiveness to opportunities at the local level, while strengthening Franklin Templeton’s ability to bring the full breadth of our global investment expertise closer to the client. Adam’s existing strong knowledge of and relationships with Legg Mason’s specialist investment managers will help accelerate our progress and will be important in this critical position within the firm.”
Franklin Templeton’s new distribution model is organized into four regions—United States; Asia Pacific; Europe, Middle East, Africa; and Americas ex-U.S.—with more functions that were previously centralized now aligned to the regions, increasing end-to-end accountability for regional client focus and growth. The four regional heads will report to Spector. Until Spector begins his new role, Johnson and Jed Plafker, recently appointed to a new role as EVP, Global Alliances and New Business Strategies, will continue to co-lead the company’s corporate-level distribution efforts.
“I am very excited to take on a role where I can partner with world-class portfolio managers, an experienced distribution team and savvy investors. The combined firm offers an unparalleled array of investment strategies and services, and we have the opportunity to help clients in new and differentiated ways,” said Spector. “Bringing together the complementary strengths of the two firms will allow us to create a more balanced and diversified organization that is competitively positioned to serve more clients in more places.”
The acquisition will add differentiated capabilities to Franklin Templeton’s existing investment strategies, with modest overlap across multiple world-class specialist investment managers and distribution channels. The combined firm will bring added leadership and strength in core fixed income, active equities and alternatives—as well as an expansion of multi-asset solutions capabilities, a key growth area for the firm amid increasing client demand for comprehensive, outcome-oriented investment solutions.
Prior to his role as Managing Partner, Spector led Brandywine Global’s Marketing, Sales and Client Service organization. Before joining Brandywine Global in 1997, Spector was a director in the international investment management group for SEI Investments and the co-founder of a start-up in Prague.
About Franklin Templeton
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization operating, together with its subsidiaries, as Franklin Templeton. Franklin Templeton’s goal is to deliver better outcomes by providing global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 165 countries. Through specialized teams, the company has expertise across all asset classes, including equity, fixed income, alternatives and custom multi-asset solutions. The company’s more than 600 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With employees in over 30 countries, the California-based company has more than 70 years of investment experience and over $622 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2020. For more information, please visit investors.franklinresources.com or franklintempleton.com.