Franklin Templeton today announced the appointment of Mike Foley as Head of US Institutional Services, responsible for providing leadership, innovative strategic direction and driving growth for US institutional distribution. He will oversee the firm's US institutional direct sales, consultant relations and relationship management teams. Foley will join the firm on September 7. He will be based in Franklin Templeton's New York City office and report to Jeff Masom, Head of US Distribution for the firm.

"Since our acquisition of Legg Mason just over a year ago, Franklin Templeton has experienced a transformative period of growth and opportunity. We are thrilled for Mike to join our team as we continue to build upon the firm's combined strengths in delivering our broad range of investment capabilities to US institutional clients," said Masom. "Mike's vision, leadership and his extensive experience in serving clients across market cycles will be instrumental in our efforts to continue to deliver the exemplary service our clients expect and rely on."

In his new role, Foley will develop the firm's strategy for acquiring new business and retaining existing client assets across the US institutional and consultant channels. He will work to identify areas for product development and new market opportunities for Franklin Templeton strategies. Foley will also serve as an essential liaison to institutional distribution leaders at the firm's independent specialist investment managers.

"Following the acquisition, the combined footprint of the organization and commitment to innovation creates great potential to expand on a well-established institutional business," said Foley. "I look forward to working with a very talented team of experienced colleagues to drive growth strategically and deliver the best outcomes for Franklin Templeton's broad array of institutional clients and consultants."

Foley brings a wealth of experience in asset management, joining Franklin Templeton from Guggenheim Investments, where he led the institutional client group for the Americas (including the US) and Europe. Prior to that he was with BlackRock, where he led its US pensions group after heading its US and Canada institutional consultant relations team. He previously held distribution leadership roles at AllianceBernstein.

Foley holds a bachelor of science degree, with honors, in economics and engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He has also served in the United States Army.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN), is a global investment management organization with subsidiaries operating as Franklin Templeton and serving clients in over 165 countries. Franklin Templeton's mission is to help clients achieve better outcomes through investment management expertise, wealth management and technology solutions. Through its specialist investment managers, the company brings extensive capabilities in equity, fixed income, multi-asset solutions and alternatives. With offices in more than 30 countries and approximately 1,300 investment professionals, the California-based company has over 70 years of investment experience and over $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of July 31, 2021. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

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Franklin Templeton Names Mike Foley as Head of US Institutional Services