BrassRing Acquires ThinkShed Assets; Acquisition Brings Cultural Fit Analysis Expertise to Talent Management Leader.

WALTHAM, Mass. -- BrassRing, a leading provider of global talent management solutions, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Austin-based ThinkShed, Inc., a leading provider of cultural fit assessment technologies. The acquired assets include ThinkShed's intellectual property, exclusive organizational analysis methodology, customer relationships, and software.

"Our acquisition of the ThinkShed brand marks a significant leap forward in BrassRing's long-standing commitment to matching great employers with great job applicants," said Deb Besemer, CEO of BrassRing. "Talent management solutions providers have focused largely on candidate capabilities and employer attraction, but understanding the cultural fit between the two is a critical competency for ensuring that a candidate will perform in the long-run. We believe that ThinkShed has the most sophisticated cultural analysis solution on the market, and we are very excited at the potential to deliver integrated talent management solutions that bring cultural fit analysis and consulting into the sourcing and hiring process."

Under the terms of this asset acquisition, BrassRing will preserve the ThinkShed name and methodology and is thrilled to have ThinkShed founder and CEO Keith Jones in place as the practice leader for all cultural assessment offerings. These assessment offerings will be integrated immediately into BrassRing's talent consulting business, which already includes recruitment strategy analysis and integration services. In the future, BrassRing will integrate ThinkShed technology into its own product offerings to deliver enhanced recruitment and workforce management solutions.

"I founded ThinkShed with a passion for developing models and methodologies that help companies optimize workforce performance and increase retention," said Keith Jones. "Over the years, we've seen our approach validated across industries and organizational cultures. BrassRing shares ThinkShed's commitment to helping companies build strong, productive workforces, and I am thrilled to have their backing as the ThinkShed approach continues to change the way companies think about human capital management."

ThinkShed's web-based solutions help companies improve effectiveness and reduce risk during workforce transformation initiatives such as employee selection and retention, mergers and acquisitions, and organizational restructuring. ThinkShed's solutions were designed and developed in an exclusive partnership with world-renowned organizational culture experts Charles O'Reilly, III of Stanford GSB, Jennifer Chatman of The Haas Business School at UC Berkeley, and David Caldwell of Santa Clara University. O'Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell will work with BrassRing to support the use and commercialization of the ThinkShed technology.

"In today's volatile business market, effective teamwork is the advantage that separates the companies that succeed from the companies that do not," said Professor Jennifer Chatman, who is also a member of BrassRing's Advisory Board. "Building and managing great teams is about assessing the cultural fit between people and organizations. The ThinkShed methodology has been proven to greatly reduce turnover and ramp up times and significantly increase workforce productivity. Having worked closely with both ThinkShed and BrassRing, I believe this acquisition of ThinkShed's assets will contribute significantly to the research and development of new tools that optimize organizational performance."

ThinkShed's customers have included Coors Brewing Company, Chase Auto Finance, BankOne, The U.S. Army, Alcoa, SouthWest Airlines, Korn Ferry and Russell Reynolds.

About BrassRing

BrassRing is a leading provider of talent management solutions that help businesses build competitive workforces, reduce hiring costs and streamline recruiting processes. Combining innovative technology with recruitment expertise, BrassRing gives its clients the edge they need to succeed -- in any economic climate. BrassRing has earned a number of prestigious industry awards, most recently the Software & Information Industry Association's 2004 Codie Award for "Best Human Resources Product" and the Sears "Partners in Progress" Award. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, BrassRing has operations in the United States and Europe. To learn more about BrassRing and its technologies, please visit www.brassring.com.