Winners Announced for 11th Annual Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards

Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner Receives
Hall of Fame Award

HERNDON, VA · June 06, 2007 /PRNewswire/ — The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) and the Tech Council of Maryland, with participation from the DC Tech Council, last night hosted the 2007 Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards Banquet to honor chief financial officers, financiers and leaders for extraordinary achievement and excellence in promoting the development of the region's technology community. Awards were given in the following categories: the Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame, Public Company CFO of the Year, Private Company CFO of the Year, the Phoenix Award and Community Service Award. The banquet, held at the Hilton McLean in McLean, Va., was attended by 834 technology executives from the region.

The Honorable Mark R. Warner, former Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia and Founding Partner of Columbia Capital, was honored with the Michael G. Devine Hall of Fame Award. This award recognizes an extraordinary leader whose contributions have significantly and uniquely impacted the region's technology business community during the course of his or her career. Governor Warner served as the 69^th Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia from January 2002 to January 2006. In the private sector, he co-founded the company that became Nextel, as well as Columbia Capital, a leading venture capital fund. Governor Warner was named among Governing magazine's outstanding "Public Officials of the Year" in 2004, TIME magazine's "America's 5 Best Governors" in 2005, and Newsweek's "Who's Next" in 2006. Governor Warner has been a strong advocate for the technology industry and has promoted the growth of our region as a global technology center by championing education, entrepreneurship, research and innovation.

Jeffrey Babka of NeuStar was presented with the Public Company CFO of the Year Award, which honors a CFO for outstanding contributions to his or her company's performance and accomplishments from January 2006 to the present. Since 2004, Babka has served as senior vice president and CFO of NeuStar, leading the company's efforts in support of its Initial Public Offering and listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. In December 2005, NeuStar was awarded "IPO of the Year" for the year by International Financing Review and Renaissance Capital. His 30-year career includes a wide variety of financial and operational management and executive positions with a concentration in telecommunications, including a long tenure at AT&T, Lucent Technologies and Concert.

The Private Company CFO of the Year Award honoree was Robert J. Baer of Institutional Shareholder Services. The award is presented to a CFO for outstanding contributions to his or her company's performance and accomplishments from January 2006 until the present. During his four-year tenure at ISS, Baer was responsible for all financial operations of the company and guided it through exponential growth, rapid expansion of its global footprint, re-engineering of its operations and, ultimately, its sale to RiskMetrics Group. Prior to joining ISS, he spent 18 years at General Electric.

Zack E. Gaddy of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service was the winner of the Phoenix Award, a new award category for 2007 presented to a CFO from a federal agency or public or private corporation who has displayed great leadership, talent, innovation and determination in achieving success through finance and technology transformation in recent years. Gaddy oversees the day-to-day accounting and finance activities of the U.S. Department of Defense. DFAS employs about 13,000 civilian and military personnel at 22 locations throughout the United States, Europe and the Pacific. Prior to his current position, he was the director for accounting services for the U.S. Air Force and selected unified commands and defense agencies.

Marilyn Crouther of EDS Corporation was honored with the Community Service Award. The award is presented to a financial executive or technology organization that has raised the bar for philanthropy or otherwise helped improve the quality of life in the region. Crouther has been an essential person in building the Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund, a grassroots organization that has sent more than 800 Washington, D.C., public school students to college. She has been instrumental in recruiting corporate sponsors for Hoop Dreams, obtaining its 501 (c)(3) status and ensuring that the organization's annual reports and tax forms are filed to maintain its non-profit status. She also has raised the profile of Hoop Dreams within EDS and has ensured that the company remains a significant and high-profile corporate supporter of the organization.

The Greater Washington Technology CFO Awards are a joint endeavor of the four accounting firms of Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The chairman of this year's awards program was Deloitte, represented by Andy Harrs, Regional Managing Partner of Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications Practice.

The nominations were reviewed and honorees chosen by an independent Selection Committee comprised of Barbara Bennett of Discovery Communications, Harry D'Andrea of Valhalla Partners, Paddy FitzPatrick, Jorge Forges of iDirect Technologies, Andy Maner of ABM LLC Advisory Services, Steven Mayer of CoGenesys and Jay Morse of The Washington Post Company.

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia and is the largest technology council in the nation. NVTC has about 1,100 member companies representing more than 200,000 employees. Its membership includes companies from all sectors of the technology industry and the service providers that support these companies, as well as universities, foreign embassies, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies. NVTC is recognized as the nation's leader in providing its technology community with networking and educational events, specialized services and benefits, public policy advocacy, branding of its region as a major global technology center, initiatives in targeted business sectors and in the international, entrepreneurship, workforce and education arenas, the Equal Footing Foundation that focuses on venture philanthropy and public/private partnerships, and The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC to mentor new technology entrepreneurs. Visit NVTC at www.nvtc.org.