LPL Financial Announces Inaugural Graduates of AdminU, New Educational Program for Support Staff of Financial Advisors

- AdminU Program Enables Advisors' Staff to Augment Business and Client-Facing Skills; Enhances Ability to Leverage Industry-Leading Resources of LPL -

BOSTON, May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- LPL Financial LLC ("LPL Financial") – the nation's largest independent broker-dealer* and wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA) – today announced the inaugural graduating class of its new AdminU program, a strategic educational curriculum for administrative and sales support staff of financial advisors affiliated with the firm.

AdminU was launched in January 2011 to help advisors' support staff leverage the wealth of knowledge, resources and best practices available through LPL Financial.  Under the program, students acquire the business and interpersonal skills needed to most effectively administer a financial advisor's office, including office management, technology, client service skills and marketing proficiency.

Three degree levels are offered annually, including; Specialist's, Associate's and Bachelor's degrees.  Each degree curriculum contains 10-13 classes, averaging 10-15 hours of course work per degree.  All courses may be completed online or in-person at an LPL Financial corporate office.  There are no enrollment fees associated with this program.

26 AdminU students from across the country have graduated with an LPL AdminU Specialist's degree, and a significant number of them have elected to enroll in the Associate's degree program as a part of their ongoing eLearning experience.  The AdminU program currently has enrolled 301 administrative or support staff members who represent 213 financial advisor practices nationwide.

Andy Kalbaugh, LPL Financial executive vice president of business consulting, said, "The best-performing financial advisors also have the best-performing support staff and are able to better focus on their clients as a result. Advisors increasingly face multiple time demands and limited budgets.  Equally important, they can no longer rely purely on asset growth to drive business goals, and need to significantly increase the number of client relationships they can serve.  Under these circumstances, having a highly skilled administrative assistant or support staff translates into a substantial competitive advantage."

Mr. Kalbaugh concluded, "AdminU students are able to learn and immediately apply their knowledge in real-life office situations, which is a huge benefit of the program.  Advisors with staff enrolled are reporting rapid improvements in performance and productivity.  Feedback from both students and the advisors they work for has been excellent across the board."

Jeff Thiesen, Partner at Thiesen Dueker Financial Consulting Group, a Fresno, CA-based independent branch office of LPL Financial said, "We see great value in AdminU and asked our staff to complete all three levels for their career development.  The program broadens their knowledge operationally and professionally.  The end result makes our staff much more valuable to us, our 25 advisors and our clients.  Our first graduates have greater confidence and greater capacity, taking on more tasks from advisors, enabling our advisors to focus more on revenue oriented activities.  Our plan is to assess the applied learnings in our staff's annual performance review which will contribute to their variable compensation."

A post-curriculum survey of AdminU attendees from January – March 2011 indicated:

• 100% of attendees think that AdminU was a worthwhile investment of their time.
• 86% of attendees feel that AdminU will have a significant impact on providing better service to clients.
• 67% of attendees believe that AdminU will have a significant impact on saving time – up to two hours per week.
• 38% of attendees are confident that they will save costs of up to $1,000 a year as a result of attending AdminU.

LPL Financial also congratulated the inaugural graduates of the program, who include:

Bell, Elizabeth – Avon, CT

Chasteen, Linda – Warrenville, IL

Douglass, Heather – Dacula, GA

Dusan, Jeanne – San Jose, CA

Ennals, Julie – Waterville, ME

Ferrel, Laurel – San Jose, CA

Gibson, Susan –Charlotte, NC

Hines, Debbie – Lancaster, CA

Lehman, Deana – Denver, CO

Leighton, Rebeka - Fresno, CA

Mack, Lisa – St. Paul, MN

MacMorran, Judith –Flower Mound, TX

Marcovici, Gabe – Hoffman Estates, IL

Middendorf, Sandra – Albuquerque, NM

Murphy, Tammi – Mooresville, NC

Musante, Mary Alice – Olympia, WA

Nabinger, Linda - Dacula, GA

Nolan, Susan –Bedford, NH

Rebrant, Jillian – Shelby Township, MI

Smith, Sally - Louisville, KY

Snyder, Cynthia – West Chester, OH

Spadt, Susan – Lincoln, NE

Stradling, Charlotte –Flower Mound, TX

Traverso, Brian – Fresno, CA

Walker, Uhura – Des Moines, WA

Weaver, Tonya – Logansport, IN

About LPL Financial
LPL Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings Inc., is an independent broker-dealer. LPL Financial and its affiliates offer proprietary technology, comprehensive clearing and compliance services, practice management programs and training, and independent research to over 12,500 financial advisors and over 750 financial institutions. Additionally, LPL Financial supports approximately 4,000 financial advisors who are licensed with insurance companies with customized clearing, advisory platforms and technology solutions. LPL Financial and its affiliates have over 2,600 employees with employees and offices in Boston, Charlotte, and San Diego. For more information, please visit www.lpl.com.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Adviser, Member FINRA/SIPC

*Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2010

LPLA-C

SOURCE LPL Financial LLC