diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
index e7eb7d6b95..b81640afe4 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
@@ -576,18 +576,25 @@ class NettyRemoteSupport extends RemoteSupport with NettyRemoteServerModule with
 }
 
 class NettyRemoteServer(serverModule: NettyRemoteServerModule, val host: String, val port: Int, val loader: Option[ClassLoader]) {
-
+  import RemoteServerSettings._
   val name = "NettyRemoteServer@" + host + ":" + port
   val address = new InetSocketAddress(host, port)
 
   private val factory = new NioServerSocketChannelFactory(Executors.newCachedThreadPool, Executors.newCachedThreadPool)
 
   private val bootstrap = new ServerBootstrap(factory)
+  private val executor = new ExecutionHandler(
+    new OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor(
+      EXECUTION_POOL_SIZE,
+      MAX_CHANNEL_MEMORY_SIZE,
+      MAX_TOTAL_MEMORY_SIZE,
+      EXECUTION_POOL_KEEPALIVE.length,
+      EXECUTION_POOL_KEEPALIVE.unit))
 
   // group of open channels, used for clean-up
   private val openChannels: ChannelGroup = new DefaultDisposableChannelGroup("akka-remote-server")
 
-  val pipelineFactory = new RemoteServerPipelineFactory(name, openChannels, loader, serverModule)
+  val pipelineFactory = new RemoteServerPipelineFactory(name, openChannels, executor, loader, serverModule)
   bootstrap.setPipelineFactory(pipelineFactory)
   bootstrap.setOption("backlog", RemoteServerSettings.BACKLOG)
   bootstrap.setOption("child.tcpNoDelay", true)
@@ -611,6 +618,7 @@ class NettyRemoteServer(serverModule: NettyRemoteServerModule, val host: String,
       openChannels.disconnect
       openChannels.close.awaitUninterruptibly
       bootstrap.releaseExternalResources()
+      executor.releaseExternalResources()
       serverModule.notifyListeners(RemoteServerShutdown(serverModule))
     } catch {
       case e: Exception ⇒
@@ -740,6 +748,7 @@ trait NettyRemoteServerModule extends RemoteServerModule { self: RemoteModule 
 class RemoteServerPipelineFactory(
   val name: String,
   val openChannels: ChannelGroup,
+  val executor: ExecutionHandler,
   val loader: Option[ClassLoader],
   val server: NettyRemoteServerModule) extends ChannelPipelineFactory {
   import RemoteServerSettings._
@@ -753,16 +762,9 @@ class RemoteServerPipelineFactory(
       case "zlib" ⇒ (new ZlibEncoder(ZLIB_COMPRESSION_LEVEL) :: Nil, new ZlibDecoder :: Nil)
       case _      ⇒ (Nil, Nil)
     }
-    val execution = new ExecutionHandler(
-      new OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor(
-        EXECUTION_POOL_SIZE,
-        MAX_CHANNEL_MEMORY_SIZE,
-        MAX_TOTAL_MEMORY_SIZE,
-        EXECUTION_POOL_KEEPALIVE.length,
-        EXECUTION_POOL_KEEPALIVE.unit))
     val authenticator = if (REQUIRE_COOKIE) new RemoteServerAuthenticationHandler(SECURE_COOKIE) :: Nil else Nil
     val remoteServer = new RemoteServerHandler(name, openChannels, loader, server)
-    val stages: List[ChannelHandler] = dec ::: lenDec :: protobufDec :: enc ::: lenPrep :: protobufEnc :: execution :: authenticator ::: remoteServer :: Nil
+    val stages: List[ChannelHandler] = dec ::: lenDec :: protobufDec :: enc ::: lenPrep :: protobufEnc :: executor :: authenticator ::: remoteServer :: Nil
     new StaticChannelPipeline(stages: _*)
   }
 }