American Guaranty & Trust Reorganization.

MONTPELIER, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 1999--

American Guaranty and Trust (AG&T) has been reorganized to more effectively serve the needs of the various distribution systems of its parent organization, the Sentinel Companies. Currently these distributions systems include the field forces of National Life, Provident Mutual and Penn Mutual life insurance companies, the joint venture partnership which sponsors Sentinel, and a wide range of independent fee-based planners.

H. Lee Cheney, III (Lee) has been appointed President and CEO of AG&T and Chairman of the American Gift Fund. In his new position Lee will be in charge of AG&T and the American Gift Fund. Previously, Lee was Senior Vice President - Marketing and Counsel at AG&T. Prior to joining AG&T, he was Director of Advanced Sales for Canada Life. A native of Georgia, Lee was also an agent and Director of Business and Estate Planning at National Life's Career Agency in Atlanta from 1991-1993. Prior to entering financial services, Lee practiced law in Georgia. Lee has been a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) since 1987 and holds a JD and Master of Laws in Taxation, LLM (Tax) from the Emory University School of Law.

"The reorganization gives us an excellent opportunity to redirect and better integrate AG&T's marketing, product and planning efforts with those of the Sentinel Companies' joint venture partners," he said. "It comes at a time when much of the financial services industry is at a crossroads with respect to its ability to offer trust services," he continued. "With the Sentinel/AG&T alliance already firmly in place, the objectives of the reorganization can only serve to broaden the benefits available to both planners and their clientele."

A. Kenneth Hackett, Jr. (Ken), Senior Vice President of Corporate and Trust Services - Secretary and Treasurer, has been with AG&T since 1981 and is responsible for systems, financial matters and the preparation of several thousand tax returns each year.

Steven M. Scrimgeour (Steve), has been appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at AG&T, reporting to Lee Cheney. He will also continue as Vice President - Sentinel Financial Services Company (SFSC), reporting to SFSC president Julie A. Hendrickson. "I'm excited to have this opportunity to bring the experience I have with the various field forces we serve to AG&T- and to have the opportunity to become more involved with AG&T on a day-to-day basis," Steve said.

Also as part of the reorganization, David A. Brownlee, CFA (David), Daniel Manion, CFA (Dan), Kenneth Hart (Ken) and Robert L. Lee, CFA (Bob) have been named Vice Presidents - Investments at AG&T. These appointments will ensure that AG&T is supported by the highest level of investment expertise National Life/Sentinel can provide.

Lee Cheney and Steve Scrimgeour have both been appointed to the AG&T Board of Directors. The other members of the board are Lance Reihl - President & COO, 1717 Capital Management Company (Provident Mutual's broker/dealer) and Maurice Lesses - a lawyer and former president of both AG&T and the Massachusetts Company. Joe Rob will continue as chairman of the board.

Lee Cheney will be chairman of the independent American Gift Fund board of directors, which in addition to Lee, consists of Lyman Amsden - Superintendent of Schools in Barre, Vermont and David E. Davis III - Chairman of the Chester Country 2020 Trust.

And finally, to ensure that AG&T grows to its full potential, recruiting efforts are underway for the position of Senior Marketing Officer.

Headquartered in Montpelier, Vermont, Sentinel Advisors Company is the investment advisor to the Sentinel Funds. The Sentinel family consists of 14 broad ranging mutual funds with some $3.2 billion in assets under management for 108,000 individual, corporate and institutional investors. In addition to the Fund group, Sentinel Advisors Company manages other investment portfolios of a mutual fund joint venture among three insurance companies -- National Life Insurance Company of Vermont, Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia and Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia. Its managers also advise the investment portfolios of National Life Insurance Company. In total, Sentinel Advisors and affiliates manage some $10 billion. The Sentinel funds are sold primarily through its own network of four affiliated broker/dealers and financial planning firms.