The Executive Council of New York Announces Winners of First Annual New York "Ten Awards"™
New York, October 2, 2003

The Executive Council of New York, a non-profit association that fosters knowledge-sharing and networking among the New York business and technology community, today announced the first winners of its annual Ten Awards™, established this year to honor ten individuals who, through their leadership, have significantly impacted business innovation in New York and beyond.

The 10 business leaders receiving awards include:
Shelby Bonnie, CEO, CNET Networks, Inc.
Jason Devitt, CEO, Vindigo
Hossein Eslambolchi, President, AT&T Labs
Donna Iucolano,President, e-Scholastic
Sallie Krawcheck, CEO, Smith Barney
Kumar Mahadeva, CEO, Cognizant Technology Solutions
Jim McCann, CEO, 1-800 Flowers
Stephen Messer, CEO, LinkShare
Martin Nisenholtz, CEO, New York Times Digital
Alan Patricof, Vice Chairman, Apax Partners
Kevin Ryan, CEO, DoubleClick

In addition, a special "Judge's Award" for innovation in civic/nonprofit leadership was presented to Lindsay Nohr, Executive Director of Fertile Hope.

The winners were honored at a special "Ten Awards" gala held at Gotham Hall in New York City this evening. In addition to the awards ceremony, the capacity crowd heard an inspirational keynote address by Intel's CEO, Craig Barrett, who himself is widely admired for his innovative leadership that extends beyond technology.

"This is indeed an impressive group of executives to inaugurate our annual Ten Awards-not only on a purely local or regional basis, but also, by virtue of their companies' size and status, truly impressive on a global basis," commented Bob Johnston, president and founder of The Executive Council. "The wide range of industries represented-from financial services, information technology, media and publishing to networking, retailing and telecommunications-and the innovation that is driving them bodes well for the continued vibrancy of business in New York," Johnston added.

The "Ten Award" winners were chosen from among 20 finalists that were drawn from open nominations submitted to The Executive Council of New York earlier this year, which were then screened by a committee of judges comprised of representatives of New York-based local and national business media outlets.

For more details on the "Ten Awards" and the Executive Council, please visit www.execcouncil.org or call 212-213-0018. PHOTOS AND VIDEO AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

About The Executive Council
Originally established as New York eComm, The Executive Council is a non-profit organization that brings together New York's business community for the purposes of fostering knowledge-sharing and business networking in a professional environment. The Executive Council programs focus on critical business and leadership issues at the intersection of technology and business, with unique industry programs focusing on venture capital, security, and corporate governance, among others. Its initiatives and corporate members contribute to the economic prosperity of the region while fostering knowledge and information sharing, professional development and partnership opportunities for our members. The Executive Council Corporate Members range from AT&T, IBM and Microsoft to AOL TimeWarner, Citibank, and Merrill Lynch as well as many other large and emerging growth technology and financial services companies and major law and accounting firms. www.execcouncil.org.

Contact:

David Eldredge The Alliant Group New York 646-495-5402 deldredge@thealliantgroup.com

Bob Johnston Executive Council 646-742-4929 bobj@execcouncil.org