STATE STREET RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT COMPANY NAMES NEW ADDITIONS TO INSTITUTIONAL SALES AND CLIENT SERVICE TEAM

"These individuals will provide us with significant additional resources that will enable us to further expand our sales effort in both the direct sales and sub-advisory channels and deepen an already well-developed client service capability," said Abbott in his announcement.

Stephen H.D. Loizeaux joins as Vice President, Taft-Hartley Sales. He will be responsible for covering multi-employer plans nationally for both defined benefit and defined contribution opportunities. At his previous employer, MetLife, Steve oversaw the Taft-Hartley sales effort for nearly three years. During his tenure, Steve generated over $650 million of new business. Prior to joining MetLife in 1998, Steve held sales positions with CL Capital Management, Union Mutual and Mutual Benefit Life. Steve has a B.S. in Accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Jared A. Synnestvedt joins as Vice President, Institutional Sales. Jed's primary responsibilities will be in the areas of new business development with corporate and public clients as well as foundations and endowments throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. He comes to the firm with eight years of investment experience having worked at Putnam Investments in the Defined Contribution - Investment Only Group. More recently, Jed was Director of Sales for MetLife Investment Partners covering corporate and public pension plans in the New England Region. He holds a B.A. in History from Dickinson College and is a Level II CFA candidate.

Daniel W. O'Connor, III returns to the firm as Assistant Vice President, Subadvisory Wholesaling. Dan has 10 years of investment sales experience. Previously, he was Director of Sales at Lava Storm, responsible for technology sales to Fortune 100 companies. Prior to this, Dan was a Regional Vice President and Wholesaler for the Broker/Dealer community at State Street Research for six years. From late 1991 through April 1993, he was an Account Representative at MetLife. Dan has a B.A. in Economics from St. Lawrence University.

Jon P. Wagenseller, CFA joins as Senior Vice President, Institutional Client Service Group. Jon's responsibilities will include managing overall client service and new business development requirements with MetLife. He transitions to the firm from MetLife, where he had several roles including running the Government Trading Desk and heading New Product Development. Jon also has experience in equity research and portfolio management, private placements and real estate investments. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of California - Santa Barbara, a M.B.A. from University of Southern California and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

David F. Lafferty, CFA joins as Vice President, Client Service Officer and will assume relationship management responsibility for the various aspects of State Street Research's interaction with MetLife. Dave and Jon Wagenseller will work as a team focused on retention and servicing of existing business as well as MetLife/State Street Research product development efforts. He joins the firm from MetLife, where he was Senior Investment Strategist responsible for hiring and monitoring investment managers for MetLife's institutional business lines. Dave also handled product development, asset allocation, and defined contribution analysis. Prior to MetLife, he was with Jefferson Pilot where he performed analytical work on investment managers for the company's Variable Annuity and Variable Universal Life portfolios. Dave has a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of New Hampshire and a Master of Finance from Suffolk University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

State Street Research & Management Company, with a money management history dating back to 1924, is one of the nation's first investment management organizations. The Boston-based firm is a subsidiary of MetLife, one of the world's largest financial services companies. As of March 31, 2001, State Street Research managed $49 billion in assets, of which over $31 billion represented institutional clients and $18 billion represented mutual fund and variable annuity portfolios. The firm manages money for 11 of the 15 largest U.S. corporate pension plans, union programs, public employee pension plans, mutual funds for over 530,000 shareholder accounts, as well as individually managed accounts for affluent investors. The firm's Web site address is www.ssrfunds.com.