Local Philanthropist Turns His Attention to Global Efforts to Reunite Missing Children with their Families.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1999--

Philadelphian Craig Millard is Named to the Board of Directors of the

International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children

Craig J. Millard, a successful entrepreneur and businessman, respected throughout Pennsylvania for his extraordinary career of community service, has been elected to serve on the Board of Directors for a new global charity to raise awareness worldwide on child abduction and victimization issues.

Millard, who currently serves in leadership positions on a number of Philadelphia-based nonprofit organizations, including the Regional Performing Arts Center, the Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, will be lending his business acumen and expertise to the structuring of development efforts for the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) which has offices in metropolitan Washington-DC and in London, England.

Following a distinguished professional career in Philadelphia, Millard is now the retired Chairman of Prudential Preferred Properties and devotes his talents and energies to cultural and philanthropic causes. He joins a distinguished group of internationally-acclaimed child advocates, current and former public officials and corporate executives on the ICMEC Board of Directors.

Lady Meyer, wife of the British Ambassador to the United States, is Co-Chair of ICMEC, and Cherie Booth, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is the organization's Patron. Other distinguished international board members include Andrey Kozyrev, former Russian Foreign Minister; Mary Banotti, a Member of the European Parliament and its Mediator for Trans-nationally Abducted Children; and Eve Branson, mother of Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard Branson.

The Honorable Arnold Burns, former Deputy Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the Board of ICMEC, recently welcomed Millard to the Board, and said "We look forward to Craig's leadership and enthusiasm, and know that his participation in our work will be invaluable to the organization's success."

ICMEC was launched earlier this year at ceremonies held both in Washington and London, and was created to focus attention and advocate for needed change in the approach to cases of missing and exploited children around the world.

Based on the model created by the U.S. based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), established in 1984 as a public private partnership, ICMEC seeks to network existing law enforcement and nonprofit organizations in nations worldwide, coordinating a more uniform international response to these complex cases which often involve cross-border abductions.

NCMEC is a private, nonprofit organization, mandated by the United States Congress, which serves as a national resource center and clearinghouse for information on child protection and victimization. The NCMEC is located in the Washington, DC- area, and works closely with the United States Department of Justice to assist families of missing children and the law enforcement and social service professionals charged to serve them.

Since the Center's inception, it has assisted local police in over 67,000 cases of missing children, playing a role in reuniting nearly 50,000 youth with their families. The NCMEC has been referred to as a "high-tech search center" by the national news media in the U.S. and is visited routinely by world leaders from around the globe who view it as a model for the creation of similar centers in their own nations.

For more information about the efforts of ICMEC or NCMEC, please visit our Web Site at www.missingkids.com or call toll-free, 800/THE-LOST.