OppenheimerFunds Promotes Chief Investment Officer Art Steinmetz to President

NEW YORK, June 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- OppenheimerFunds announced today that Art Steinmetz has been promoted to President.  Mr. Steinmetz currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, where he oversees all equity, fixed income and alternative investment capabilities including investment strategy, strategic planning and personnel.  Mr. Steinmetz, who joined OppenheimerFunds in 1986, becomes President and Chief Investment Officer effective May 31, 2013, and will continue to report to Bill Glavin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OppenheimerFunds.

In this new capacity, Mr. Steinmetz will help drive the firm's strategic mission and continue to foster and build the firm's investment capabilities and culture. The firm's team of Chief Investment Officers will continue to report directly to him:  George Evans, CIO, Equities; Krishna Memani, CIO, Fixed Income; and Mark Hamilton, who joined the company in April, 2013 as CIO, Asset Allocation.  Mr. Steinmetz will continue to co-manage his investment strategies and portfolios.  This new role also gives Mr. Steinmetz a more visible podium to represent the OppenheimerFunds brand.

"Art has been a pioneer, innovator, and one of the most successful and respected investment managers in the industry for more than 25 years," said Mr. Glavin. "What's more, Art is the epitome of what it means when we say 'The Right Way to Invest,' as he personifies the high alpha, active management culture that we have cultivated here at OppenheimerFunds.  As a portfolio manager, Art has been a role model, and as CIO, he has been a leader and mentor to many of our investment professionals.  His promotion to President is a worthy recognition of his key role as the head of our investment organization, his public role in representing our company, and his ongoing leadership and influence at our firm."

For more than a half century, OppenheimerFunds has had at its core an investment culture that reflects a commitment to retail and institutional clients through high conviction, active management.  Today, the OppenheimerFunds family of products boasts terrific investment results, with 16 best in class awards by Lipper¹ in 2013 and a ranking of sixth out of 62 fund families in Barron's Best Fund Families List for 2012, based on 2012 performance.²

In addition to his executive leadership responsibilities, Mr. Steinmetz serves as co-manager of Oppenheimer International Bond Fund and Oppenheimer Global Strategic Income Fund, with $13.1 billion and $9.3 billion in assets under management, respectively (all classes as of 4/30/13).  Mr. Steinmetz has served as a manager of the Oppenheimer Global Strategic Income Fund since October 1989 and the Oppenheimer International Bond Fund since April 2004. He was instrumental in pioneering strategic income investing, an investment approach that combines the three key sectors of the bond market–high yield corporate bonds, U.S. government and agency bonds and foreign fixed-income securities–in a diversified portfolio.

"We hold four core beliefs that lie at the heart of our investment culture: active management delivers better outcomes; independent investment teams lead to better ideas; a global perspective is critical and portfolio management is best supported by independent risk management oversight," said Mr. Steinmetz.  "These beliefs will be critical as I step into my new role, as I want to propel our firm in delivering new investment strategies to our clients, recruiting and developing the brightest and most innovative investment minds, and helping Bill Glavin and my other executive colleagues to realize our company's vision." 

OppenheimerFunds recently announced a modernized retail brand and a new institutional brand, OFI Global Asset Management, which represents the firm's strategy to leverage its heritage of innovation and support its mission to turn its unconventional wisdom into value for investors.

About OppenheimerFunds

OppenheimerFunds, Inc. (OFI) is one of the largest and most reputable investment management firms in the country. Since the original Oppenheimer fund was first offered to the public in 1959, OFI has demonstrated it is a high conviction asset manager with a history of providing innovative investment strategies to its investors. OFI and its subsidiaries offer a broad array of products and services to individuals, institutional investors and corporations worldwide. OFI provides advisory services to the Oppenheimer mutual funds, and OFI Global Asset Management provides services to institutional clients. OFI, including its subsidiaries, managed more than $208 billion in assets for over 12 million shareholder accounts, including sub-accounts, as of March 31, 2013.

These views represent the opinions of OppenheimerFunds, Inc. and are not intended as investment advice or to predict or depict performance of any investment. These views are subject to change based on subsequent developments.

¹   Lipper Awards are granted annually to the funds in each Lipper classification that achieve the highest score for Consistent Return, a measure of funds' historical risk-adjusted returns, measured in local currency, relative to peers.  Winners are selected using the Lipper Leader rating for Consistent Return for funds with at least 36 months of performance history as of 11/30/12.  Awards are presented for the highest Lipper Leader for Consistent Return within each eligible classification over 3, 5 or 10 years. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

²   Source: Lipper/Barron's survey "Best Mutual Fund Families," published February 9, 2013. For the 2012 award period. The Barron's/Lipper Best Fund Families survey identified and ranked 62 fund families (from Lipper's universe of 1,958 fund families) that had at least three funds in Lipper's general U.S. stock category, one world equity fund (global or international), one mixed-equity fund, two taxable bond funds and one tax-exempt bond fund in 2012. Lipper calculated each fund's net total return for the year ended December 31, 2012, and adjusted those returns for 12b-1 fees in 2012, without considering sales charges. Each fund in the survey was given a preliminary percentile ranking in its category. That ranking measured how a fund compared with its peer "universe," as tracked by Lipper, not just the funds in the survey. Individual fund scores were then multiplied by the 2012 weighting of their general classification. Those fund scores were then totaled, creating an overall score and ranking for each fund family in each category. OppenheimerFunds ranked 6/62, 30/53and 18/46 for the one, five and ten year periods, respectively, ending 12/31/12. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Fixed income investing entails credit risks and interest rate risks. When interest rates rise, bond prices generally fall, and the fund's share price can fall. Foreign investments may be volatile and involve additional expenses and special risks, including currency fluctuations, foreign taxes and political and economic uncertainties. Emerging and developing market investments may be especially volatile. A portion of a municipal bond fund's distributions may be subject to tax and may increase taxes for investors subject to Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Capital gains distributions are taxable as capital gains. Diversification does not guarantee profit or protect against loss.

Shares of mutual funds are not deposits or obligations of any bank, are not guaranteed by any bank, are not insured by the FDIC or any other agency, and involve investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested.

Before investing in any of the Oppenheimer funds, investors should carefully consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Fund prospectuses and summary prospectuses contain this and other information about the funds, and may be obtained by asking your financial advisor, visiting oppenheimerfunds.com, or calling 1.800.525.7048. Read prospectuses and summary prospectuses carefully before investing.

Oppenheimer funds are distributed by OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc. Two World Financial Center, 225 Liberty Street, New York, NY, 10281

© 2013 OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SOURCE OppenheimerFunds