Association for Corporate Growth's Boston Chapter -- ACG Boston -- Names New Directors.

BOSTON -- The Association for Corporate Growth's Boston Chapter (ACG Boston), announced today that it has named six new members to its Board of Directors. With 42 chapters around the world, ACG is the premier professional organization focused on corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions. ACG Boston, with more than 800 members, is the organization's largest chapter. New ACG Boston Board members are:

--Brian Cuddy, Founder, Cuddy & Griffiths, a business development and relationship marketing firm for professional service companies. Brian's previous experience includes Director of Business Development for the Boston office of Arthur Andersen, and President of the Boston office of ROMAC (now referred to as kforce), one of the nation's premier publicly traded executive recruiting firms.

--Erik Dykema, Principal, Metapoint Partners, a 16-year-old private equity firm that acquires small industrial and commercial niche manufacturers. At Metapoint, Erik is in charge of sourcing, evaluating and financing new acquisition opportunities. Prior to Metapoint, Erik spent two years with Corporate Decisions, Inc. (CDI) and Mercer Management Consulting in Boston, where he provided general management consulting and strategic advisory services to businesses in a variety of industries.

--Brendan McSheffrey, Senior Partner and Co-Founder, GMD Resources, a business and technology strategy firm servicing successful mid-market companies. At GMD, Brendan is responsible for helping clients redefine underlying business processes essential to product growth and innovation. Prior to co-founding GMD Resources, he co-created and developed the E-Mail Games(TM) gaming platform, a first-of-its kind concept licensed to Hasbro Interactive, Inc. Brendan was also a founding partner of PressureSource, Inc., an online marketplace aimed at the hydraulic, pneumatic, and compressed gas industries.

--Joan Miller, Vice President, Marketing, Summit Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm. Joan is responsible for the firm's marketing and public relatives initiatives. Prior to joining Summit, Joan was Director of Global Communications for The Boston Consulting Group, where she developed an integrated strategic marketing communications program for the international management consulting firm. Prior to that, she held senior marketing positions at State Street Research & Management Company and New England Investment Companies.

--Deborah Monosson, President & CEO, Boston Financial & Equity Corporation, an asset-based lender for higher risk credits, including venture capital backed startup companies, turnarounds and some Chapter 11s. Prior to joining Boston Financial & Equity Corporation in 1989, Ms. Monosson was with the Syndicate Department at Dean Witter Reynolds and a Commodity Futures trader at E. F. Hutton.

--Bryce Youngren, Principal, Polaris Ventures, a venture capital firm, where he focuses primarily on growth equity investments in the technology, healthcare, media, and business services industries. While at Polaris, Bryce has been involved with Polaris' investments in Cushcraft Corporation, Alimera Sciences, AWS Convergence Technologies, TechTarget, and Center for Health Promotion. Prior to joining Polaris in October 2002, Bryce was a senior associate at Great Hill Partners. Previously Bryce served as an analyst for Willis Stein & Partners in Chicago and Bear Stearns & Co.'s technology investment banking group in New York.

"I am very pleased to announce these outstanding new additions to ACG Boston's Board of Directors," said Jack Derby, President, ACG Boston, and President, Derby Management. "Brian, Erik, Brendan, Joan, Deborah and Bryce are all among the most respected and successful business executives in their fields. They are extremely accomplished professionals who have the energy, passion, connections and insights to help lead ACG Boston's future growth."

"Over the last three years, ACG Boston has grown tremendously and become the pre-eminent business association for professionals doing transactions within the New England business community," said Derby. "Investment bankers, private equity professionals, corporate development officers and service providers have found ACG Boston to be the community to join to make the connections that drive their businesses. These new Directors bring additional resources to us from the private equity, venture capital and technology areas, and we look forward to their further contributions to ACG Boston."

ACG Boston holds more than 40 networking and educational events per year, including monthly Dealmaker's Breakfasts, Buyer's Roundtables, Tech Forums, Women's Roundtables, Lifesciences Roundtables, Networking Nights, annual M&A Conference in May, annual Economic Outlook Conference in January, and an annual Technology Conference in November. The sold-out 2004 ACG Boston M&A Conference drew more than 1,000 business executives from New England and around the country. More than 5,000 people attended ACG Boston events in the last year.

In addition to the new board members, ACG Boston's Board of Directors includes:

--Chairman, Dennis White, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

--President, Jack Derby, President, Derby Management

--Robert Cronin, Senior Managing Director, Stonebridge Technology Associates

--Brian Gilmore, Executive Vice President, Associated Industries of Massachusetts

--Bill Haynes, Senior Vice President, Arnold Corporate Communications

--Joel Johnson, President, Orchard Partners Inc.

--Gail Long, Group Executive, Citizens Bank of Massachusetts and President of Citizens Capital Inc.

--Stuart Mathews, Senior Vice President, Metapoint Partners, L.P.

--Stephen McGee, Director, Corporate Finance, Grant Thornton LLP 

--Joan Parsons, Northeast Division Manager, Silicon Valley Bank

--Mark Pillsbury, Publisher, Mass High Tech

--Keith Schlegel, Senior Vice President, GE Commercial Finance

--Suresh Shanmugham, venture capital investor and technology expert

--Molly Simmons, Vice President, Gemini Investors

--Elliot Williams, President & Managing Director, RCW Mirus

--Carol Wolff, Partner, Sullivan & Worcester LLP 

About ACG

Founded in 1954, the Association for Corporate Growth (www.acg.org) is the premier global association for professionals involved in corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions for mid to large companies. Leaders in corporations, private equity, finance, and professional service firms focused on building value in their organizations belong to ACG. They recognize the multiple benefits of networking within an influential community of executives growing public and private companies worldwide. For 50 years, ACG members have focused on strategic activities that increase revenues, profits and, ultimately, stakeholder value. Today ACG stands at more than 7,000 members representing Fortune 500, Fortune1000, FTSE 100, and mid-market companies in 42 chapters in North America, Europe and Asia. ACG's Boston Chapter (www.acgboston.org), with more than 800 members, is the organization's largest.