Association for Corporate Growth's Boston Chapter Names New Board Members.

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2003

The Association for Corporate Growth's (ACG) Boston Chapter, announced today that it has named four new members to its Board of Directors. With 46 chapters around the world, ACG is the premier professional organization focused on corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions. ACG's Boston Chapter, with more than 750 members, is the organization's largest. The new board members, who will serve three-year terms, bring to 22 the total number of Board members in ACG's Boston Chapter. New Board members are:

-- William B. Haynes, Senior Vice President, Magnet

Communications, a division of Arnold Worldwide. Bill

specializes in creating and implementing strategic corporate

marketing and communications programs for technology,

financial and professional services companies. Bill's previous

experience includes Vice President positions at Weber

Shandwick, Scudder Investments, and Ogilvy & Mather.

-- Gail R. Long, President, Citizens Capital Inc., the $400mm

private equity arm of Citizens Financial Group. Gail oversees

CCI's mezzanine, equity and fund investment portfolios. Prior

to joining Citizens in December 2001, Gail was the founder and

Managing Partner of Eagle Investment Partners, LLC. Prior to

that, Gail spent 19 years at BankBoston, where she had

extensive experience in financing buyouts.

-- Mark Pillsbury, Publisher, Mass High Tech, The Journal of New

England Technology. Mass High Tech is a weekly newspaper that

reports on the people, companies and issues involved with the

commercialization of technologies. Before being named

publisher in 2002, Mark was the publisher and editor of

Denver-based Front Range TechBiz, a sister publication to Mass

High Tech that he started in 2001. Prior to that, he was

editor of Mass High Tech for several years.

-- Suresh Shanmugham, Partner, Boston Millennia Partners. Suresh

focuses on early stage venture capital investments in software

and information technology companies. Prior to being a Partner

at Boston Millennia Partners, Suresh was with Boston Capital

Ventures from 1994 to 1997, where he first served as an

Associate, then as a Principal. Prior to that, he was with

McKinsey & Company, where he was in the Corporate Finance

practice and had significant experience with mergers and

acquisitions.

"I am very pleased to announce that these four leaders in the fields of marketing, finance, and journalism will be joining ACG Boston's Board of Directors," said Jack Derby, President, ACG Boston, and President, Derby Management. "ACG Boston has experienced tremendous membership growth in the last two years as New England's senior corporate executives have found ACG Boston to be a valuable resource for networking, sharing best practices on all aspects of corporate growth, and doing deals. ACG Boston's Board has evolved over the last few years to focus on corporate growth and M&A issues for companies representing all aspects of the New England economy including manufacturing, business and financial services, technology, and life sciences.

"All four of our new Board members have helped ACG grow and deliver value for our membership," said Derby. "Bill Haynes and Mark Pillsbury have been invaluable in raising awareness of ACG, and Gail Long and Suresh Shanmugham have provided valuable contributions and broad connections in the finance and venture capital communities. We look forward to their continued insights and assistance."

ACG Boston holds more than 30 networking and educational events per year, including monthly Dealmaker's Breakfasts, Buyer's Roundtables specifically geared to the private equity community, seminars, an annual M&A conference in May, and an annual Tech M&A conference in October. The sold-out 2003 ACG Boston Annual 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 is comprised of:

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

-- President, Jack Derby, President, Derby Management

-- Treasurer, Avery "Chip" W. Catlin, Senior Vice President &

CFO, AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc.

-- Secretary, Laura Matz, Principal, Hillcrest Associates

-- Robert J. Creeden, Partner, Egan Managed Capital

-- Robert N. Cronin, Senior Managing Director, Stonebridge

Technology Associates

-- Paul M. Gasparro, Managing Director, Avanti Solutions, Inc.

-- Brian Gilmore, Executive Vice President, Associated Industries

of Massachusetts

-- Jay C. Jester, Senior Vice President, Audax Group

-- Joel F. Johnson, President, Orchard Partners Inc.

-- Stuart I. Mathews, Senior Vice President, Metapoint Partners,

L.P.

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

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

-- Benjamin P. Procter, Partner, Watermill Ventures

-- Keith L. Schlegel, Senior Vice President, GE Commercial

Finance

-- Molly S. Simmons, Vice President, Gemini Investors

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

-- Carol G. Wolff, Partner, Sullivan & Worcester LLP 

About the Association for Corporate Growth

Founded in 1954, the Association for Corporate Growth (www.acg.org) is the premier association for and about professionals involved in middle-market corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions. ACG promotes the professional interests of its members, who have assumed leadership roles in strategic corporate growth, by offering a forum for quality programs, education and networking. ACG has nearly 7,000 members representing 5,000 companies in 46 chapters throughout North America, Europe and in Mexico. The Hong Kong Pearl River Delta Chapter-in-formation (April 2003) is its first initiative in China. ACG's Boston Chapter (www.acgboston.org), with more than 750 members, is the organization's largest.