Buxton President and CEO Tom Buxton Named Winner of Ernst & Young 2007 Southwest Area Entrepreneur of the Year(R) Award.

Buxton's Vision Has Guided His Company's Ascent to Customer Analytics Leader

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Tom Buxton, president and CEO of the industry-leading customer analytics firm Buxton, has been named the winner of the Southwest Area Entrepreneur of the Year([R]) Award in the Services category.

Ernst & Young defines entrepreneurs as standout leaders and creators who build and sustain world-class businesses that are a testament to vision, leadership, achievement and social responsibility.

Previous winners of this prestigious award at the national level include Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Inc., and Pierre Omidyar of eBay, Inc. Included among past regional winners are Buxton clients Kip Tindell of The Container Store, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., Kenneth W. Freeman of Quest Diagnostics, and one of this year's category winners, Kenneth H. Cooper of Cooper Aerobics.

In accepting the award, Tom Buxton said he was honored to be associated with these outstanding entrepreneurs and added, "The honor really goes to all the great people at Buxton who have brought me to where I stand today."

The knowledge Buxton gained during his two decades with the consumer electronics retailer Tandy/RadioShack, coupled with his extensive retail experience, led him to found Buxton in 1994. Today, the company is the leading customer research expert, with more than 1,500 retail and community clients. Buxton's extensive databases contain consumer data on every household and individual across North America. This data is analyzed using Buxton's proprietary research methodologies to accurately profile any organization's key customers. Once key customers are identified, Buxton is able to find additional prospective customers, enabling clients to create the most effective customer centric marketing, store location and product category management strategies. By pioneering the use of psychographics, demographics, drive-time analysis and lifestyle characteristics, Buxton has changed the way big brands make core business decisions.

Buxton's client base includes retailers, restaurateurs, municipalities, healthcare organizations, consumer packaged goods manufacturers - every concept that interacts with the customer. Buxton's clients are more successful today because of Tom Buxton's constant focus on innovation, technology and quality client relationships. For its continuing efforts to pioneer new products and technologies, Buxton was selected as one of the Most Innovative Companies in the 2006 American Business Awards. Tom Buxton was named in Fast Company Magazine's 2005 Fast 50 list of top innovators and technology pioneers. In a 2006 article for the retail industry, Retail Traffic recognized Buxton as "a site-selection ace that is forging new ground in advising retailers."

Among Buxton's clients are retailers and brands such as FedEx, Casual Male, California Pizza Kitchen, Morton's, New Balance and Goodyear and communities such as McKinney, Texas; Buffalo, N.Y.; Gary, Ind.; Midtown Alliance Atlanta, Ga.; City of Moulton, Ala.; and the Village of Broadview, Ill.

Entrepreneur of the Year nominees are evaluated by an independent panel of judges consisting of past winners, educators and business and community leaders through written materials and in-depth interviews. Buxton and the other finalists were recognized at the Southwest Area awards banquet, June 30, in Dallas.

Award winners in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala later this year.

For more information, visit www.buxtonco.com.