Atlanta Scores Another Hi-Tech Company as Two Former Xcelerate Executives Form Questalent, a New IT Search Firm.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2001

Client-Focused Model Concentrates on Risk-Sharing, Speed and

Accountability

Bruce Frcek and Michael Coffey, former Xcelerate Corporation executives, today launched Questalent, a company reinventing the business of executive and management recruiting for the Information Technology (IT) industry through a high-quality, customer-focused approach that brings speed and accountability to the hiring process - qualities found lacking in traditional retained and contingency search firms.

"We are here to shake-up the executive search industry by offering our clients a new client focused model. Questalent is the first and only retained search firm that shares in a client's risk and success and ensures our timely completion of assignments," said Frcek, president, CEO and co-founder of Questalent. "Our unique and first-of-a-kind Fixed-Time/Success-Fee Pricing(TM) model provides our clients with a cost-effective and time-efficient solution to fill vacant leadership positions."

Pioneers in the e-business industry, Frcek and Coffey, developed a maverick approach to provide a holistic solution to help companies meet their human capital needs and compete more effectively in the new economy. Frcek and Coffey were frustrated and disappointed by the service they received from traditional retained and contingency search firms that consistently over-charged and under-delivered. Under existing models, agencies typically require full payment up front, don't guarantee success or invest the time to understand clients' needs. They randomly rifle through numerous unqualified resumes and have no sense of urgency to fill critical IT positions. Questalent was born to offer a client-centric service that focuses on speed, accountability and quality.

"There's actually more pressure in the marketplace to find the right candidates than ever before," Frcek explains. "Human resources are at just as much of a premium today as capital resources. There's no downturn in demand for strategic leaders in our industry," Frcek added. "We are ready to supply top-caliber executives that fit the technical profile as well as the corporate culture."

Headquartered in Atlanta, Questalent's primary focus is management and executive leadership within the IT arena. Areas of particular expertise include operations and technology management, as well as sales, marketing and other business development positions within the technology sector. Questalent's Fixed-Time/Success-Fee pricing structure ties more than 50 percent of its fees to the timing of the completion of Questalent's assignments. This innovative first-of-a-kind model ensures clients that Questalent is a strategic partner invested in the successful and timely completion of retained leadership searches and gives clients the assurance that it is financially committed to their success.

Questalent has received a first round of funding from private investors and has plans to raise another round of funding in the future.

Questalent's paradigm ensures that it consistently delivers the right individuals for the right role at the right time. The company shares in the risk, takes ownership of and manages the entire hiring process, freeing internal client resources for other key business opportunities. Questalent reduces the cost of vacancy, improves the quality of candidates and reduces the time commitment of the internal client hiring team.

About Questalent Founders

Bruce Frcek, President, CEO & Chairman

Prior to founding Questalent, Bruce Frcek founded Xcelerate Corporation, a leading e-business consultancy, in 1997. In less than four years, as Chairman, President and CEO of Xcelerate, he guided the company from its humble beginning with two employees to an organization of more than 350 Internet professionals in multiple cities with over $45 million in external funding. Using a customer-focused fixed-time/fixed-fee delivery model, Xcelerate was known for delivering e-business strategies and services with unparalleled customer service and speed and gained a national reputation as being one of the nation's preeminent e-business consultancies.

As a pioneer in the field of e-business, Frcek was honored as Ernst & Young's Florida Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000.

Prior to founding Xcelerate, Frcek spent more than eleven years in consulting and the private sector with Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting), Coca-Cola, Ryder Systems and Dell Computer. His academic background includes a master's degree from Georgia State University and an undergraduate degree in finance and accounting. Bruce is a non-practicing Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Mike Coffey, Co-founder & Senior Vice President

In his role at Questalent, Mike Coffey's primary responsibilities are total client satisfaction, overseeing the company's core operations and providing leadership on strategic senior level executive placements. Coffey's hands-on involvement with clients supports Questalent's specialty search teams. His career management expertise involves extensive knowledge of executive workforce trends, technology hiring strategies and innovations in attracting, motivating and retaining senior level talent.

Prior to forming Questalent, Coffey served as senior vice president of Xcelerate, leading the HR, recruiting and corporate legal functions. He guided the human capital component of this business during its rapid growth to a national organization of more than 350 Internet professionals. At its peak, Xcelerate identified and attracted over 30 professionals per month in a very tight labor market. More importantly, by focusing on sourcing and hiring the right people for the role, Xcelerate led the industry with world-class retention rates of 92 percent.

Prior to his work building Xcelerate, Coffey served in human resource leadership roles at Rubbermaid, Inc. as well as in the Human Capital Consulting Practice of Accenture. He has extensive experience in information technology and executive recruitment, value-added human resource re-engineering, human resources systems design and implementation and organization development. He also has expertise in employee relations, professional development and employee retention.

Coffey holds a bachelor of business administration and master of science degree in management/organizational behavior from Georgia State University.

About Questalent

Headquartered in Atlanta, Questalent is reinventing the business of executive and management recruiting for the Information Technology (IT) industry through a high-quality, customer-focused approach that brings speed and accountability to the hiring process. Questalent helps companies identify and acquire rising and seasoned technology executives to fill business development, sales and marketing, practice and program management and executive suite positions. Its Fixed-Time/Success-Fee(TM) program ensures clients a strategic partner that is invested in the successful and timely completion of retained leadership searches. Questalent also has an office in Fort Lauderdale. For more information on Questalent, visit www.questalent.com.