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36 World-Class Finalists for E-Commerce Pioneer Awards

COLUMBUS, Ohio - August 8, 2002 - World-class innovation has been demonstrated by the 36 finalists in ECom-Ohio's first-ever E-Commerce Pioneer Awards. Finalists have just been selected, and one winner in each category will be chosen by a blue-ribbon national selection committee.

Winners and finalists will be introduced at a gala high tech event at the Hyatt Regency, Columbus, on September 5. "This event will recognize exceptional examples of e-business success in Ohio, highlight the culmination of the three-year ECom Ohio program, and build community among industry leaders in the region," says Pari Sabety, Director of The Technology Policy Group at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), which created and managed ECom-Ohio. E-Commerce Pioneer Awards will be presented in several industry sectors: healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, retail and distribution, education, government, software and information technology, telecommunications, and marketing/media. Special awards for Business Transformation, Trail Blazer, and Roadbuilder will also be presented. Finalists in the various categories include the following:

• Healthcare:
  • Cardinal Health
  • Noteworthy Medical Systems
  • NCS
• Manufacturing (Companies more than 500 employees):
  • General Electric Aircraft Engines
  • Procter & Gamble
  • Owens Corning Manufacturing
• Manufacturing (Companies 500 employees or fewer):
  • Abrasive Technology
  • Blue Chip Paving
  • United States Plastic Corp.
• Manufacturing Applications:
  • eWinWin
  • International Technegroup, Inc.
  • IQS, Inc.
• Financial services and insurance:
  • KeyCorp
  • The Progressive Corporation
  • Schwab Retirement Plan
• Retail and distribution:
  • Reynolds and Reynolds
  • Roadway Express
  • Therma-Tru
• Education:
  • Atomic Dog Publishing
  • Chemical Abstracts Service
  • The Pencil Group
• Government and non-profit:
  • Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation
  • Ohio Department of Insurance
  • League Boss
• Software and information technology: (Companies with more than 500 employees)
  • LexisNexis
  • NCR Systemedia
  • Sterling Commerce Software and information technology
• Software and information technology: (Companies with 500 employees or fewer):
  • Vertical Solutions
  • Softek and Internet Transaction Solutions
• Telecommunications :
  • Airpath Wireless
• Cincinnati Bell - Zoomtown
• Horizon Chillicothe Telephone
• Marketing/media:
  • Gerard Hilferty & Associates
  • Image Source

Finalists in the special award categories include the following:

• Business Transformation:
  • Charter One Bank
  • General Electric Aircraft Engines
  • Procter & Gamble
  • The Progressive Corporation
• Roadbuilder:
  • Airpath Wireless
  • Cincinnati Bell
  • Horizon Chillicothe Telephone
• Trailblazer:
  • Atomic Dog
  • General Electric Aircraft Engines
  • LexisNexis

Eligible companies included any Ohio-based company, any company with more than 200 employees in Ohio, or Ohio customers of companies outside Ohio. Sixteen private-sector companies in Ohio sponsor the ECom-Ohio initiative, which is now in its third year of measuring Ohio businesses' and citizens' ability to deploy the new tools of electronic commerce. Over 90 companies applied for the awards, and are listed at http://www.ecom-ohio.org/awards/nominations_index.shtml. "We knew that many of the country's leading adopters of e-business technologies are Ohio companies," Sabety says. "That's why so many nationally known e-commerce experts have agreed to serve as jurists for our E-Commerce Pioneer awards; they want to see for themselves what we're doing here." Some of the nationally and internationally known experts serving on the National Selection Committee include the following:

• Bruce Mehlman, Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, USDOC
• Tom Orlowski, MIS Director, National Association of Manufacturers
• Whitney Quesenbery, Senior VP for Usability, Cognetics
• Rohit Shukla, President, Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance
• Ric Light, Director IT Development, Humana Inc.
• Kay Nelson, Professor, Fisher College of Business, OSU
• Rich Chesnut, Honda of America Mfg., Inc.
• Angelo Mazzocco, Vice President and CIO, Dispatch Companies
• Robert Jaquay, Program Officer, Gund Foundation
• Chad Wick, President, Knowledgeworks Foundation
• Darby Patterson, Editor in Chief, Government Technology
• Chris Thompson, Editor/General Manager, Craintech.com
• Lauren Lawley-Head, Managing Editor, Dayton Business Journal
• Rob Daumeyer, Managing Editor, Cincinnati Business Courier
• Malcolm Edge, Director Information Technology, Toledo Blade

Maryland, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky and North Carolina have already deployed the measurement methodology developed by ECom-Ohio. Pennsylvania, Indiana, Connecticut, and Illinois are initiating or conducting assessments based on the ECom-Ohio model.

Press Contact: Sue Leitner, 513-351-4500, sleitner@fuse.net