Clinton Gee Joins The Word & Brown Companies as Chief Financial Officer.

ORANGE, Calif. -- The Word & Brown Companies today announced that Clinton Gee has been appointed chief financial officer. With headquarters in Orange and operations and offices throughout the state and in Texas, The Word & Brown Companies include the Word & Brown General Agency, CONEXIS, and CHOICE Administrators(R) and its programs: CaliforniaChoice, CaliforniaChoice 51+, Contractor's Choice(R) and Kaiser Permanente Choice Solution.

Gee is responsible for all accounting and financial management for The Word & Brown Companies. He has more than 18 years of financial and accounting experience with over 10 years in the healthcare insurance industry.

"We are excited to welcome Clinton to our senior management team and confident he will be a key contributor to our continued growth and success," said Edward J. "Rusty" Brown, co-founder of The Word & Brown Companies, who made the announcement with co-founder John W. Word III.

Gee joined The Word & Brown Companies after 10 years with Nationwide Health Plans, where he held executive positions including controller, vice president of finance, vice president of strategic planning and vice president of sales. His background also includes senior management positions with the international accounting firm KPMG, and with Foundation Health.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from California State University at Chico, is a Certified Public Accountant, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the California Society of CPAs. He is a licensed California Life and Health Insurance Agent and a member of both the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) and the California Association of Health Underwriters (CAHU). He is actively involved with numerous community service organizations including United Way and Habitat for Humanity.

About The Word & Brown Companies

The Word & Brown Companies have been leaders in offering innovative health benefit plan models and the nation's most sophisticated employee benefits services to employers of all sizes for more than 20 years. The Word & Brown General Agency distributes California's premier health plans through brokers with innovative sales tools and industry-leading quoting systems. CHOICE Administrators(R) is the nation's leader in developing and administrating employee-choice health benefit programs including CaliforniaChoice and CaliforniaChoice 51+, its successful consumer-driven health care programs for small- and mid-size groups, Contractor's Choice(R), for employers on public works projects, and Kaiser Permanente Choice Solution, a new employee-choice program for employers with 2-50 employees. CONEXIS is the nation's leading employee benefits administration company and the only benefits administrator to administer all of its products and services through a fully integrated, Web-based system. CONEXIS specializes in COBRA/HIPAA, Reimbursement Services (FSA/HRA/HSA), Direct Bill and other administrative services.

For more information about The Word & Brown Companies, contact Janet Bollman at 7l4-567-4582 or visit www.wordandbrowncompanies.com.