Afterburner Seminars' U.S. Fighter Pilot Facilitators Head To Europe To Train Top Technology Leader.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

ATLANTA & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 18, 2000

Afterburner Seminars, an international management training company comprised of U.S. men and women fighter pilots, is taking its seminars to Europe. Client IBM has engaged Afterburner Seminars to execute their "extreme" Afterburner Day seminar in cities throughout Europe. As part of IBM's E-Victory Tour, an IBM global division sales initiative, attendees will see how to execute a business mission flawlessly and deal with rapid change the fighter pilot way.

Jim 'MURPH' Murphy, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Afterburner Seminars, is practiced at mission planning and flawless execution. He has combined seven years of training as a U.S. F-15 fighter pilot with 15 years of business savvy to bring products to market with speed--a pace fighter pilots know well. As a result, Murphy and his team of fighter pilot facilitators will execute an intensive, interactive combat mission scenario, The Afterburner Day-1, which all of IBM's E-Victory Tour teams will complete in the next week.

IBM's E-Victory Tour, with training components including the Afterburner Day, kicked off in July with seminars in the U.S. and Asia. Last week two groups completed Afterburner Days in London and Wiesbaden. This week Paris and Rome. "Training is essential. Practice at executing flawlessly in a rapidly changing environment, like we have as fighter pilots mission after mission, has shown results," says Murphy. "People from all cultural backgrounds leave this seminar and feel like they have just jumped out of an F-15 and survived. This sense of risk and accomplishment gives participants both a new perspective and the practical experience to combat the next challenge--and they are pumped."

Afterburner Seminars is a high growth company employing 45+ fighter pilots from around the U.S. Able to deploy on command from their respective locations, these fighter pilots have not only logged thousands of hours flying jets, they have also trained over 80,000 employees of top Fortune 500 companies. The results, Afterburner Seminars has doubled revenues yearly with an average of 193% growth each year since its inception in 1996.

Afterburner Seminars, an international leadership development and management training company, executes training programs, keynote addresses and customized follow on programs for companies interested in building the critical competencies necessary to ensure marketshare and growth in the global marketplace.