Boston University Offers Online Program

Boston University has begun offering an interactive, multimedia online program for financial planners.

The program, which was started in September, is being developed with Acadient Inc., a Boston-based developer and distributor of multimedia, interactive education for the financial services industry.

Robert J. Glovsky, president of Mintz Levin Financial Advisors in Boston, is director of the program, which offers courses on personal finance, investments, taxation, estate planning, life and health insurance, and employee benefits and retirement planning. The online program is based on the university‚s classroom financial planning program, which was founded in 1981 and is one of the oldest in the country.

"It‚s our belief that we‚ve created the next generation of online training. Most online training programs follow an online syllabus, where you read a chapter and come back and read another chapter. We‚ve created an interactive program in which you can test your knowledge as you‚re going along," says Robert J. Powell III, Acadient managing director.

He adds there are about 140 classroom-based financial planning programs in the country, but only about 10% of them have online offerings.

Powell notes that the CFP Board was to decide in mid-September whether Boston University‚s online courses can be used to fulfill CFP Board of Standards requirements for instruction leading up to the CFP certification examination. Students who complete BU‚s six courses would then be able to sit for the two-day exam.

For more information, visit www.bu.edu/finplanners.

Eaton Vance Expands Team

Boston-based Eaton Vance is expanding its efforts in managed accounts by adding two positions to its managed accounts sales and marketing group.

Eaton Vance Distributors Inc., a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Corp., named Robert B. Ellerbeck and Lindsey Lambert Kidder as regional sales directors.

Ellerbeck will handle sales in northern California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Ellerbeck joined Eaton Vance from Simms Capital Manage-ment, where he served as principal and regional director of the West Coast Division.

Lambert Kidder will be responsible for sales in southern California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii. She joined the company from Morgan Stanley, where she served as senior vice president and director of national training for Investment Consulting Services.

Delaware Investments Forms Wealth Management Group

Delaware Investments in Philadelphia has formed a Wealth Management Group headed by new hires Stephen W. Starnes and Theodore K. Smith.

Starnes and Smith will focus first on growing the existing managed accounts business and then on developing more wealth management services for the firm.

Starnes was named a senior vice president and will have overall responsibility for the new group. Previously, he was a director at 1838 Investment Advisors LLC, where he initiated the broker-related distribution of the firm‚s investment products using separate accounts platforms.

Smith joins Delaware as vice president of the group. Previously, he worked for FOLIOfn Inc. of Vienna, Va., where he served as vice president of business development.

CheckFree, Tamarac Become Partners In Separate Accounts

CheckFree Investment Services in Jersey City, N.J., has announced a joint marketing agreement with Tamarac Inc., a Seattle-based developer of specialized tax-optimization applications for broker-dealers, money managers, mutual funds and registered investment advisors.

CheckFree specializes in portfolio management and trading software services, and its APL platform is the most widely used among firms working with in separate accounts. CheckFree and Tamarac will bring tax-optimization services to Check-Free APL clients for enhancing decisions about buying and selling assets within separately managed accounts.

For more information, visit www.checkfreecorp.com.

A Better Way To Mail

Calumet Carton Co. of South Holland, Ill., has introduced its new Expand-A-Mailer, which allows thick spiral-bound reports, financial documents, employee benefits packages, books and other bulky items to be mailed safely. For more information about Expand-A-Mailer, or any other envelopes and packaging, call Calumet at (888) 889-7242 or visit www.calumetcarton.com.