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Company: John Hancock Signature Services, Boston, MA
Company Description: JHSS is made up of 159 associates and serves as the transfer agent and service provider for JHF, its shareholders, and financial professionals. JHF manages more than $71.5 billion* in open-end funds, closed-end funds, private accounts, retirement plans, and related party assets for individual and institutional investors with more than one million shareholders worldwide. *as of 6/30/2011
Nomination Category: Sales Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Support Team of the Year

Nomination Title: One Team, One Dream

Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July 2010 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

The Dealer Services team is responsible for providing back office support to
John Hancock Funds distribution partners. Although this team is not in the
spotlight, they are equally as critical to our sales process. Day to day, this
group is the primary point of contact to internal and external clients. They
are called upon for their expertise, support and ability to get things done.

In 2011, this team completed:

• 6 omnibus conversions
• 14 fund launches, liquidations, mergers, acquisitions
• On-boarding of 8 new relationships
• Automation of manual processes
• A proactive call out campaign to our relationships
• Our first client survey, receiving a 96% satisfaction rating
• Processing of 48,028 transactions
• Reporting modifications
• Exceeding all department goals

In addition, 2 key regulatory projects were also supported:

Implementing Mandatory Cost Basis Reporting

In 2011, an industry-wide regulatory change mandated mutual fund companies be
required to supply accurate cost basis reporting to both shareholders and the
IRS effective January 1, 2012. Final regulations were not published until
10/12/2010, and industry interpretation of these complex rules continued
throughout 2011.

This team quickly realized that they needed to have a solid preparedness plan
in place or potentially expose the organization to financial and reputational
risk. The team focused on proactively brainstorming potential changes that
would be necessary to their existing workflows. Out of those discussions,
decisions and procedures were documented, new responsibilities were delegated,
systems’ changes developed, tested and implemented prior to the effective
date. In addition, a comprehensive risk management plan was developed to
ensure all of their decisions and changes were proactively controlled and
tested.

Formalize an omnibus oversight program

Omnibus accounts and the shift to sub-accounting have been increasing over the
years. Responsibilities that were historically performed by our organization
are increasingly shifting to our distribution partners. As this business
continues to increase, the level of disclosure to the fund company decreases.
The need for greater transparency became even more critical.

This team developed an efficient intermediary oversight model to ensure our
Funds policies and federal regulations are properly controlled and monitored in
an omnibus environment. Through the collection of existing controls throughout
the organization and new processes that will further expand our program, we now
have a formalized framework in place to bring tangible results back to our
Board and Senior Management for 2012.

Since it is so difficult to convey the value of this team in 500 words, I’d
like to conclude with some feedback directly from our customers:

• “We wish more fund families were as self-aware as an organization”
• “We have a great relationship with John Hancock. They make our lives
easier which is very important for us”
• “The staff is always knowledgeable and helpful”
• “One of my best fund contacts and it's always a pleasure doing business
with him”
• “One doesn't have a whole lot of choice in which firms one does
business with from an operational standpoint, but John Hancock is easy to work
with”

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

Charles Rizzo is Senior Vice President and CFO for John Hancock Funds. He is
responsible for overseeing Fund Administration which is charged with the
financial management and oversight of the platforms that support the mutual
fund and variable insurance products sold by John Hancock in the U.S. He is
also the President and CEO of JHSS.

Previous professional experience includes: Vice President/Manager at Goldman
Sachs and Managing Director for the Deutsche and Scudder Family of Funds.

He started in public accounting at Coopers & Lybrand and remains active with
the ICI and NICSA. Rizzo holds a B.S. from Bentley College.