American Century president and CEO Jonathan Thomas will co-host the first half of CNBC's Closing Bell program alongside Maria Bartiromo this afternoon.

Thomas appears on Closing Bell three to four times a year, but this will be the first time that he will be co-hosting the show. His previous appearances lasted around five minutes; this time around, he will be on the set for a full hour, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EST.

Asked how Thomas' co-hosting gig came about, American Century spokesman Chris Doyle said: "We reached out to them...The Lipper awards we won last week probably prompted their interest."

American Century took home the "Best Fund Group Overall" award last Thursday, and bagged 10 individual awards (see The MFWire, 04/03/09). 

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