Financial Services Technology Leader James "Skip" Smith Joins Confluence as VP of Product Dev.

(PITTSBURGH, PA – January 12, 2011) Confluence, a global leader in investment management data automation, today announced that industry veteran James "Skip" Smith has joined the company’s senior management team as Vice President of Product Development. In this role, he leads the management and develop ment of all products in the Confluence Unity® fund administration platform.

"Skip Smith has a proven track record of driving results for financial services technology businesses through product innovation," said Kirk Botula, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Confluence. "He is a strong leader whose skills, which include growing financial technology company revenues by extending the value of their products, fit well in our organization."

Mr. Smith brings more than 20 years of financial services, operations and technology experience to his role with Confluence, including 13 years managing complex, global technology organizations. As a Senior Vice President and Division Chief Operating Off icer with Fiserv, Smith successfully led global technology businesses delivering payments fraud, item processing, enterprise content management, Internet banking and compliance solutions to the financial services market. He improved client satisfaction scores by more than 30 percent by developing strong partnerships with client executives and implementing world-class customer service practices.

Prior to joining Fiserv, Mr. Smith served as a senior technology and operations executive with JPMorgan Chase. He was also a management consultant in technology/product management with RSGI, and a Technical Operations Leader with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"By offering a platform that automates a wide range of regulatory, compliance, marketin g and financial reporting, Confluence is changing the face of the back office. I could not be more excited to join this leadership team, and am committed to helping Confluence deliver products that enable fund administrators to succeed in an increasingly complex global environment," said Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith is a former board member of The Accredited Standards Committee X9 (ASC X9), whose mission is to develop and promote international technical standards for the delivery of financial services products. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. 

About Confluence
Founded in 1991, Confluence is a global leader in fund administration automation. Confluence helps investment management companies gain unprecedented control by automating every step of the fund administration process—including the collection, creation, confirmation, and delivery of investment product data. Results are lower costs, reduced risk, decreased reporting turnaround times, and the scalability to automate more processes without additional resources. Confluence solutions are used by 40 percent of the leading global investment managers, and more than 60 percent of U.S. mutual funds. The Unity® platform from Confluence addresses a wide range of problems from performance measurement to customized reporting for a full array of domestic and international managed investment products, including mutual funds, funds of funds, collective funds, separate accounts, and variable products, as well as hedge funds and other alternative investments. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Confluenc e serves the international fund industry with key locations in London and Luxembourg. For more information, visit info@confluence.com.