R. Mark Pennington, Partner and Director of the Strategic Relationship Group, is responsible for managing the business relationships with and strategy efforts relating to Lord Abbett's distribution partners, including wirehouses, global banks, independents/RIAs, and regional banks and brokers.

Mr. Pennington, who has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, joined Lord Abbett in 1989 as a Regional Manager in Atlanta. From 1990–99, he was a Regional Manager in New York. He was made Northeast Divisional Manager in 1996, and became a Partner in 1998. He was appointed Director of Separately Managed Accounts in 1999 and Director of the Strategic Relationship Group in 2005.

Before joining Lord Abbett, Mr. Pennington worked in corporate finance and institutional equity research sales at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

Mr. Pennington is an active member of the Investment Management Consultants Association and former chairman of its regional education conferences. He is a board member and a former chairman of the Money Management Institute, the trade association for advisory-based businesses. He has been quoted on numerous occasions in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and The New York Times as an industry spokesman for the wealth management industry.

Mr. Pennington earned a BA from the University of Texas and was named a Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) in August 2001.