Santa Barbara, CA - September 9, 2004

Scott Smith was named Vice President of Business Operations for Partnervest Financial Group LLC and all of their subsidiary companies. Mr. Smith is responsible for overseeing all corporate operations, including lines of business integration, and Partnervest's In-House Outsourced Solution for RIA Compliance and Operations. Mr. Smith joined Partnervest in June of 2004.

Prior to joining Partnervest, Scott Smith was Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at RS Investments formally Robertson Stephens Investment Management, a National Investment firm headquartered in San Francisco with over $7 billion in assets under management. Scott led the firm's compliance operation during its growth, including during its acquisition and divestiture from Bank of America.

Mr. Smith holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is licensed as a General Securities Principal and General Securities Representative.


About Partnervest Financial Group
Partnervest Financial Group LLC, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, is a privately owned full-service financial services, technology and consulting company. Partnervest and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Partnervest Securities, Inc. (Member NASD/SIPC), Partnervest Advisory Services LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, and Partnervest Insurance Services LLC, an Insurance Agency, provide the full spectrum of financial services and products, as well as back-office operations, compliance, and business consulting services. Partnervest Technology Group provides multi tiered applications and an ASP model for account aggregation, electronic imaging, portfolio reporting, reconciliation, and integration management of financial service databases. For further information contact Partnervest at (805) 966-1266 or at www.partnervest.com.