First managing director hired at Securities Analysis Center in Lundquist College of Business

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Feb. 12, 2008) -- Ben J. Salm has been named the first managing director of the new Securities Analysis Center at the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon. He assumed his new role on Jan. 22.

The center offers students a unique perspective on the securities industry with a curriculum that emphasizes both finance and accounting, exposes students to valuable experiential learning and capitalizes on faculty excellence in research.

According to Lundquist College of Business Dean James Bean, Salm is well-suited to be the first managing director of the Securities Analysis Center, a new specialization program that will launch this fall.

"Ben brings vast real-world experience and insight to this exciting new program," said Bean. "He has first-hand knowledge of and an abiding passion for the international investment industry, and he understands what it takes to succeed in the field."

Salm has more than 15 years of experience in investment research and portfolio management. Most recently, he has been owner of Blue River Capital an investment advising and consultancy firm he founded in 2000 in Cambridge, Mass. The firm serves established money managers, small business owners, and individuals, specializing in investment management and research for clients throughout the U.S.

Salm says he’s looking forward to launching the new Securities Analysis Center as the next chapter of his successful career. He adds that his industry background, overseas experience and his own graduate studies allow him to understand the needs of the center’s constituents, including students, faculty, employers and industry partners.

"This is an important opportunity to contribute my experience towards what will be an outstanding education for our finance and accounting students, encouraging them to add to the growing investment industry in Oregon," said Salm. "There is tremendous potential and support here at the university and it will be gratifying to guide one of only a handful of such programs in the country."

Salm earned his bachelor's degree in business and computer science at the University of Oregon in 1984 and a master's degree in applied economics and finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. Before founding Blue River Capital, he was vice president with State Street Global Advisors in Boston and London. While there, he was responsible for managing a $4 billion investment portfolio on behalf of European and Middle Eastern investors, as well as overseeing the associated client service, research and new product development.

Salm says the Securities Analysis Center is receiving tremendous support from industry partners in the Northwest -- especially Portland -- as well as the East Coast and California. He notes that he and Securities Analysis Center faculty are putting the finishing touches on a refined curriculum that reflects a sharp focus on the securities market in the U.S. and abroad. Two new faculty appointments are expected in the Lundquist College of Business’s department of finance to help support the center.

Founded in 1914, the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business is one of the oldest and most respected business education programs in the Pacific Northwest. The Lundquist College includes the innovative James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center, the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, the Sustainable Supply Chain Management Center, and the Securities Analysis Center, as well as nationally recognized undergraduate and M.B.A. programs.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Julie Brown, University of Oregon, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu
Pat Walsh, The Ulum Group, 541-434-7021, pwalsh@ulum.com

Links: Securities Analysis Center at the Lundquist College of Business, http://lcb.uoregon.edu/sac/. Lundquist College of Business, http://lcb.uoregon.edu/.

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