Bingham McCutchen Managing Partner Richard J. Welch Named Chairman of LA INC. The Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 2003

LA INC. The Convention and Visitors Bureau today announced the election of Richard J. Welch, Esq., managing partner for the Los Angeles office of law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP, as Chairman of its governing Board of Directors. Welch will serve as Chair of the LA INC. Board for the fiscal year 2003-2004, a term which begins July 1, 2003, and concludes June 30, 2004.

Welch assumes the Chair's position from Alan I. Rothenberg, Esq., retired senior partner of Latham & Watkins, who headed the Board from July 1, 2001.

"The Board's election of our new Chair puts the right person in the right role at just the right time," said Mark S. Liberman, president & CEO of LA INC. The Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Rick has the skill and energy to lead the Board as it navigates our organization through a rapidly changing economic landscape. He is a great communicator and strategist. Our industry will be well served," Liberman said.

Welch has been an active member of the LA INC. Board of Directors since 1995, and served as Chairman from 1998-1999, when the organization was known as the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"I have always felt that L.A.'s Convention and Visitors Bureau is this city's most effective economic development instrument," said Welch. "Now more than ever, that instrument can be directed to leverage opportunities in a rapidly evolving marketplace. LA INC. has the experienced staff, vision and resources to make a material contribution to the bottom line of our stakeholders and Los Angeles," Welch said.

Prior to his post with Bingham McCutchen LLP, Mr. Welch served as Chairman of law firm Riordan & McKinzie, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions and the representation of private equity firms. Riordan & McKinzie and Bingham McCutchen recently merged.

Mr. Welch has served as an active board member of the L.A. Sports & Entertainment Commission, an affiliate of LA INC., where he was Chair from 1996-1998 and in 2002. A graduate of Duke University and Stanford Law School, Welch is also an advisory board member for the Entrepreneurial Studies Center of the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.

LA INC. The Convention and Visitors Bureau is a private, not-for-profit business association whose primary mission is to enhance the economic fabric of Los Angeles by marketing the city as a leisure travel destination and through the marketing of its meeting and convention facilities. Though not part of city government, LA INC. is recognized as the City's official tourism marketing organization.

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