Company Press Release

2009-02-12 14:16:10 - ProFunds Group, the world's largest manager of short and leveraged funds,1 announced today that Joanne M. Hill has joined the firm as head of investment strategy. In this new role, Ms. Hill's responsibilities will include research, development, and dissemination of investment strategies utilizing the firm's ProShares exchange traded funds (ETFs) and ProFunds mutual funds.

Prior to joining ProFunds Group, Ms. Hill was with Goldman Sachs for 17 years. Her experience there included leading global equity derivatives research, focusing on institutional applications of ETFs, futures, options, swaps, and index portfolio trading. She most recently served as a managing director in Goldman's Pensions, Endowments, and Foundations Group.

"We are thrilled to welcome Joanne, one of the country's leading experts in developing investment strategies using instruments like ETFs," said Chairman and CEO Michael Sapir. "Her experience in creating and advising on strategies that employ shorting and leverage will be particularly invaluable in helping our institutional investors and financial professionals employ our products in sophisticated portfolios."

Ms. Hill has published extensively on quantitative investment topics and derivatives, with recent articles in the Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management, and Journal of Trading. She serves on the board and heads the research committee for the "Q" Group and is on the editorial board of the Financial Analysts Journal and Journal of Indexing. She has also served as a member of the Standard & Poor's, Russell, and Financial Times Index Committees.

Prior to coming to Wall Street, she was on the finance faculty of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and was a research analyst at the Federal Reserve Board. She received a Ph.D. in finance from Syracuse University, an M.A. in international affairs from George Washington University, and an undergraduate degree in International Service from American University.

In her new role, Ms. Hill will report to Steve Cohen, managing director and head of ProFunds' recently formed Strategy Group.

About ProFunds Group

The $28 billion ProFunds Group includes 76 ProShares short and leveraged ETFs, and 115 ProFunds mutual funds. ProShares, which introduced the first short and leveraged ETFs in 2006, continues to be a leader in launching innovative new products?for two years in a row, ProShares has led the industry in attracting assets to newly launched ETFs2 and now is the fourth-largest sponsor of ETFs in the nation.3 Since 1997, ProFunds mutual funds have provided investors with easier access to sophisticated investment strategies, with offerings that include funds that seek to magnify daily index performance and funds that seek to increase in value when markets decline. The group also manages the Canada-based Horizons BetaPro ETFs.

All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Short ProShares and ProFunds should lose value when their market indexes rise, and they entail certain risks, including, in some or all cases, aggressive investment techniques, inverse correlation, and market- price variance risks, all of which can increase volatility and decrease performance. ProShares and ProFunds are not diversified investments. Narrowly focused investments, including sector funds, typically exhibit higher volatility. ProShares and ProFunds are designed to meet daily objectives; results over longer periods may differ. There is no guarantee that any fund will achieve its investment objective.

Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of ProShares and ProFunds before investing. This and other information can be found in their prospectuses. Read the prospectus(es) carefully before investing. For a ProShares ETF prospectus, visit www.proshares.com, and seek advice from your financial adviser or broker/dealer representative. Financial professionals can also call 866-PRO-5125. For a ProFunds mutual fund prospectus, call 888-PRO-FNDS (individual investors) or 888-PRO-5717 (financial professionals), or visit www.profunds.com. Read the prospectus(es) carefully before investing.

ProFunds Group includes ProFunds mutual funds and ProShares ETFs. ProFunds Distributors, Inc. is distributor for ProFunds mutual funds. ProShares ETFs registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 are distributed by SEI Investments Distribution Co., which is not affiliated with ProFunds Group or its affiliates.

1 Source: Lipper, based on a worldwide analysis of all of the known providers of publicly traded funds in these categories. The analysis covered ETFs, ETNs, and mutual funds by the number of funds and assets (as of 6/30/2008).

2 Source: Citigroup ETF Flow Report, based on an analysis of ETPs introduced in 2007 and 2008.

3 Source: Bloomberg, based on assets for 1/30/2009.


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