Tracey Armstrong to Succeed Retiring Joe Alen as CEO of Copyright Clearance Center.

DANVERS, Mass. -- Joseph Alen, president and CEO since 1992 of Copyright Clearance Center, the world's largest copyright licensing solutions provider, announced his intention to retire at the end of the company's fiscal year in June, closing out a 25-year career at CCC. The Board of Directors has named Tracey Armstrong, currently CCC's Chief Operating Officer, to succeed Alen.

Armstrong joined CCC in 1989 and, like Alen, rose through the ranks of the company, previously serving as Executive Vice President and Vice President of Transactional Services. Her appointment is the result of a transitional plan begun by CCC's Board three years ago when Alen advised the board of his wish to retire at age 65.

"CCC and the publishing industry owe a great debt of gratitude to Joe Alen," said Jack Hoeft, CCC's Chairman of the Board. "He built CCC into the content industry's leading champion of intellectual property and copyright. During his tenure as CEO, he grew annual distributions to rightsholders from $6 million to $112 million. The power and endurance of his legacy are reflected in the orderly transition of the CEO position. He leaves CCC in an extraordinarily solid position to enjoy future growth and success."

"Tracey Armstrong is a proven leader with a keen strategic grasp of the major challenges and opportunities facing CCC," said Hoeft. "She brings strong market insights and technological understanding, and she has the unique ability to get the most out of people around her. We are confident Tracey will take CCC to the next level."

"As the leader of many successful strategic development efforts and market initiatives, Tracey has proven she's the right person to lead CCC," said Alen. "She has a strong understanding of new technology and its impact on how people find and use content directly from their desktops. And she has led our innovative strategy of supporting both copyright and knowledge collaboration by integrating licensing within digital content workflows. With Tracey at the helm I have great confidence in CCC's future."

Not-for-profit CCC has more than 200 employees and reported fiscal year 2006 revenues of $163 million. The company's text licenses and licensing solutions help ensure that publishers and authors worldwide are compensated for the reuse of their content while simplifying copyright support by corporate and academic content users. Since its founding in 1978, CCC has returned more than $1 billion in royalties to content rightsholders. Nearly all of the Fortune 100 and more than 1,000 U.S. academic institutions--more than 20 million employees and students--are covered by CCC licenses and licensing solutions.

"Copyright is an issue of growing importance for publishers and content users," said Armstrong. "CCC is uniquely positioned to address the needs of both with innovative workflow-based licensing services so that copyright is not a barrier to content sharing. I am thrilled to have this opportunity and look forward to taking on the challenges of a transforming industry."

Armstrong, who holds an MBA from Northeastern University, lives in Beverly, MA, with her husband and three children. Among her other community and business activities, Armstrong recently served as chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Harborlight House, Inc., a low-income assisted living facility in Beverly.

About Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.

Copyright Clearance Center is the world's largest provider of text licensing services. These services, combined with CCC's Web-based applications and tools, allow tens of millions of people in corporations, universities, law firms and government agencies to lawfully use and share published information with ease. Since its founding as a not-for-profit company in 1978, CCC has created and expanded the markets and systems that facilitate content reuse and the distribution of royalties to publishers and authors around the world. By offering rights to millions of the world's most sought-after publications, the company plays a major role in the global knowledge economy and encourages support for the principles of copyright. For more information please visit www.copyright.com.