Acadio Appoints Narendra M. Pathipati Executive Vice President, COO & CFO; Senior Executive Joins Fast Growing e-Learning Company.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2000

Acadio(tm) Corporation, a leading e-learning provider that brings the best continuing education and training offerings to businesses and professionals, has named Narendra M. (Pat) Pathipati its executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

Pathipati has more than 20 years experience in finance, engineering and development, most recently with Weirton Steel Corporation (NYSE:WS), a $1.4 billion steel manufacturer, where he served as senior vice president responsible for corporate development, strategy and finance. Demonstrating his trademark entrepreneurial spirit while at Weirton, Pathipati co-founded five start-ups, including one of the leading B2B exchanges for the metals industry, MetalSite.net.

In his new role with Acadio, Pathipati will oversee finance, accounting, information technology, human resources, legal, and operations.

"Pat's entrepreneurial leadership will be an invaluable asset to Acadio," said Steven Sperry, Acadio CEO. "Due to the rapid growth and vast potential of the e-learning market, Acadio is able to attract outstanding executive talent such as Pat," Sperry continued.

"Acadio is well positioned among the companies that are shaping the e-learning market space," said Pathipati. "By leveraging the potential of the Internet to streamline how businesses and professionals find, evaluate, and purchase continuing education and training, Acadio is creating significant value in a traditionally fragmented industry. I look forward to utilizing my financial and entrepreneurial strengths to help Acadio further its leading position in this emerging multi-billion-dollar category."

Pathipati holds an M.B.A., with Beta Gamma Sigma, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master's degree in industrial engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, where he was the top ranked student in his class.

About Acadio Corporation

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Seattle, Acadio is dedicated to helping businesses and professionals reach their full potential through learning. Acadio is a leading e-learning provider that brings the best continuing education and training offerings to businesses and professionals. Companies rely on Acadio to increase their productivity and professionals trust Acadio to help them enhance their careers. As of June 2000, more than 15,000 learning offerings from over 275 leading learning providers were on the Acadio commerce platform. Businesses and professionals can quickly and easily find, evaluate, and purchase continuing education products and services from www.acadio.com. In September 2000, Acadio will expand its offerings to include online courses and skills assessment tools. For more information, call 206/225-5000, or e-mail [e-mail].