Turner Investment Partners Announces Formation of Alternative Investment Fund-of-Funds Unit; Gary E. Shugrue to Head Ascendant Capital Partners LLC

Business Wire, August 22, 2001

Business Editors

BERWYN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 2001

Turner Investment Partners announced today that it has launched a new unit, Ascendant Capital Partners LLC, to move the company into the alternative investment fund-of-funds business.

Gary E. Shugrue will head the new unit as Chief Investment Officer. He will have responsibility for development and management of Ascendant's investment products, and along with John H. Grady, Chief Operating Officer of Turner Investment Partners, will have overall responsibility for Ascendant's business.

"We intend to offer alternative investment products through multiple distribution channels, as demand for alternative products is increasing not only at the institutional level, but also among registered investment advisors and sophisticated individual investors," said Stephen Kneeley, President of Turner Investment Partners. "Gary Shugrue brings an outstanding reputation and vast experience in every aspect of the alternative investments arena, having developed and managed alternative investment products since 1988. This move reinforces our twin goals of expanding the number and scope of investment products that can be offered to clients while ensuring that our investment team can continue to focus on its core objective-performance."

Before joining forces with Turner, Mr. Shugrue was Chief Operating Officer of Double Agent LLC, having been an original investor there in August 2000, providing strategic, operating and financial experience to the start up. Mr. Shugrue co-founded Argos Advisors LLC in June 1988, and was responsible for operations, investment strategy and marketing. He formed a quantitative long/short equity fund, two growth funds and a domestic short-only fund, as well as two offshore investment vehicles. Prior to forming Argos, Mr. Shugrue worked in institutional equity sales for eight years for Merrill Lynch and Kidder Peabody.

Ascendant Capital Partners LLC is a limited liability company formed under Delaware law. Turner Investment Partners, an investment firm based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, manages approximately $10 billion for institutions and individuals in a variety of equity and fixed income products, including 20 mutual fund portfolios for individual investors.