Rising Stars.

John E. Saunders has been appointed Executive Director of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA). Mr. Saunders is responsible for leading this national membership association in accomplishing its mission to strengthen and increase the presence of Blacks within the field of public administration; and to groom and prepare younger, aspiring administrators for senior public management posts. Previously, Mr. Saunders was the Deputy Commissioner of Labor for the State of Connecticut. Mr. Saunders discovered this leading career opportunity through American's Job Bank (www.ajb.org) the nation's largest online recruitment center.

Peter L. Fleminster Peter L. Fleminster has been named General Counsel of Tyco Electrical & Metal Products and Allied Tube & Conduit Corporation, respectively a division and wholly owned subsidiary of Tyco International (US) Inc. The division and subsidiary manufacture steel electrical conduit and fittings, steel fence posts, steel sprinkler pipe, electrical cable and wire, cable tray, steel support channel and steel tubing for use in a host of OEM applications. Previously, Mr. Fleminster was Associate General Counsel of Allied Tube & Conduit Corporation.

Sheryl Y. Battles has been named Vice President, External Affairs and Communications for Pitney Bowes Inc. In this position, Mrs. Battles provides strategic communications counsel and support for the Chairman and leads the media relations, financial communications, corporate contributions and employee volunteerism, diversity communications and issues management strategy for the $4 billion multi-national corporation. Mrs. Battles joined Pitney Bowes in 1989 as Manager, Corporate Communications and served in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility before being named to her current position.

Suzanne A. DuBose is president of Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications. Ms. DuBose is responsible for a $70 million budget, allocation of grants to more than 12,000 nonprofit organizations, and Verizon Volunteers, an incentive program that encourages Verizon's 260,000 employees to volunteer in their communities and provides matching gifts for nonprofit organizations. Verizon Foundation supports programs for improving basic and computer literacy, bridging the digital divide, enriching communities through technology and creating a skilled work force.

David A. Turner is the Computer VP Consumer Marketing at Gateway. Mr. Turner was selected by Gateway's Board of Directors to lead the consumer brand marketing effort. This is a $5.5 billion dollar division, with a $300 million dollar budget. Mr. Turner comes from AT&T where he was VP of Business Services.