Aug. 14, 2006 – State and local leaders today welcomed Dimensional Fund Advisors (Dimensional) to Texas, saying the investment firm's second major US office in Austin will bring some of the country's most savvy financial minds to the Lone Star State.

“Dimensional Fund Advisors is a large and very successful money management company. The high standards and proven financial skills of David Booth and his team will be a tremendous asset to this region. We are fortunate they have selected Austin for their new offices,” said Kenneth M. Jastrow II, chairman and chief executive officer of Austin-based Temple-Inland.

Governor Rick Perry thanked Dimensional for helping draw attention to a positive business climate in the state.

“We welcome Dimensional Fund Advisors' decision to open an office in Texas,” said Gov. Rick Perry. “I am confident the company will quickly learn why Texas is the best place in the nation to do business: our relatively low taxes, a reasonable regulatory climate, the most sweeping tort reforms in the nation, and our skilled workforce.”

Dimensional Fund Advisors Chairman and CEO David Booth said the new, full-service office will provide additional trading capabilities in the United States and allow Dimensional to better enhance services to meet the dynamic needs of clients. The second full-service office also allows the company to improve business continuity if unforeseen events create operating risks elsewhere. Other offices are located in Santa Monica, California; Sydney, Australia; London, England; Vancouver, Canada; and Chicago, Illinois.

Over the next few months, Dimensional will relocate 25 employees from Santa Monica, which will continue to be a primary workplace for the company's Institutional and Financial Advisor Services groups as well as its research, trading, and operational personnel. The Austin office also plans to hire an additional 25 local employees during the next six months.

“We chose to locate in Austin because of a high quality of life, moderate living costs, and a strong entrepreneurial climate,” said Booth.

Booth said the University of Texas also provides Dimensional with an opportunity to recruit and retain a superior workforce.

Austin Mayor Will Wynn said he is pleased Dimensional identified Austin as a desirable home for its employees.

“We're thrilled to welcome a top-flight business whose executives value the unique qualities of Austin — the cultural arts, outdoor opportunities, and highly educated citizens that make our city outstanding. The Dimensional employees will only add to the intellectual capital in our community,” said Wynn.

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce said the Dimensional location decision is another example of the region's ability to attract well-paying jobs through Opportunity Austin, the Chamber’s economic development initiative to create 72,000 new jobs in five years.

“Austin's most recent success in the financial services industry is due to the resounding pro-business environment, which includes the low cost of real estate and taxation,” said Gary Farmer, president of Heritage Title Co. of Austin and 2005 chairman of the Greater Austin Economic Development Corporation.

David Booth and Rex Sinquefield founded Dimensional Fund Advisors in 1981. Their use of sophisticated, mathematical models for investment and the development of mutual funds has attracted top academic economists. University of Chicago Finance Professor Eugene Fama and Dartmouth Finance Professor Kenneth French are directors and consultants to the firm. Nobel laureates Myron Scholes and Robert Carhart Merton serve on Dimensional's eight-member board of directors of the mutual-fund family advised by Dimensional.

The company's employees, its board members, and a small group of outside investors privately own the company. It manages more than $100 billion of funds for institutional and registered investment advisor clients.