Racepoint Group Expands Corporate and Public Affairs Capabilities

Business Wire, June 16, 2008

New Washington, D.C. office to be led by David Whitmore

WALTHAM, Mass. -- On the heels of renowned crisis and issues management expert Rich Blewitt joining the firm as a senior advisor, Racepoint Group, a global public relations agency with special expertise in digital media relations, is expanding its corporate capabilities with the addition of three senior practitioners with extensive experience in public affairs and government relations. Based, in Washington, D.C., the team of experts will be led by Executive Vice President David Whitmore, formerly of Qorvis Communications and The Cassidy Companies.

"What's exciting about our new corporate and public affairs practice is that our offering is entirely based on a contemporary view of communications in a digital age - or World 2.0," said Larry Weber, Chairman of Racepoint Group. "Clients, recognizing the rising importance of social media and Racepoint's expertise in this arena, have increasingly come to us for help with issues and crisis management, public affairs, government relations and issues advocacy. With the addition of Rich Blewitt, David Whitmore, Brian Lunde and Timothy Binning, we now have in place an extremely savvy team ready to address these important client needs."

Racepoint's Washington, D.C. team currently includes:

* David Whitmore, Executive Vice President - With more than two decades of financial and operational experience, Whitmore will lead the Racepoint Group Washington, D.C. team. Before joining Racepoint, Whitmore provided communications planning and management services to a number of clients in Washington, D.C., Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He played a significant role in the growth of Qorvis Communications including financial and management oversight of that firm's business with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Prior to Qorvis, Whitmore served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Shandwick Washington/The Cassidy Companies, the Washington, D.C. branch of Weber Shandwick, where he was responsible for the management and performance of eight firms with over $100 million in annual revenue. Additionally, David led the M&A efforts for Shandwick after being acquired by The Interpublic Group of Companies.

* Brian Lunde, Senior Consultant, Issues Management and Government Relations - Lunde has more than 25 years of campaign management and grassroots experience at the national, state and local levels and has headed grassroots and issues management functions at two of the world's largest public relations/public affairs firms. Lunde developed the extremely successful grassroots lobbying concept known as Political Family Persuasion, which involves communicating to the office holder through local individuals who the office holder knows, trusts, and relies on for political advice and support. Lunde has turned most of his political experience toward working with corporations, such as Household Finance, GlaxoSmithKline, Boeing, AOL Time Warner, The Business Roundtable, Eastman Kodak, and numerous others.

* Timothy Binning, Senior Consultant, Issues Management and Government Relations - Timothy Binning's background in politics as a campaign services director and later as finance director for several Democratic candidates for Congress, governor and president gives him special insights into the workings of the political system. Binning has worked with a broad range of business clients including Aetna, National Restaurant Association, Chemical Manufacturers Association, Health Insurance Association of America, Eastman Kodak, DuPont, El Paso Corporation, Nucor, Boeing, HSBC, and many others. With Brian Lunde, he co-founded the HelpingAmericansVote.org service for the 2004 election cycle that attracted members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AARP and Homebuilders Association as well as other leading companies.

As announced in March 2008, Rich Blewitt, formerly of premier crisis and issues management firm Rowan & Blewitt, joined W2 Group and Racepoint Group to leverage his deep experience solving and preventing problems for corporations dealing with litigation, the media and special interest groups.

Blewitt, Whitmore, Lunde and Binning previously worked as a team under Rowan & Blewitt to help global corporations confidentially and successfully solve problems, prevent and handle crises. This team's new coupling with Racepoint Group's social media expertise gives the corporate world an offering that does not exist elsewhere. Further expansion of this team is expected in the future.

About Racepoint Group

Based in Waltham, Mass., Racepoint Group, Inc. is an award-winning global public relations agency with special expertise in digital media relations. We leverage the power of traditional and digital media relations to elevate premium and emerging technology, health and science brands - generating world-class media and analyst coverage that directly impacts mindshare and marketshare. We lead in the application of technology to our craft and provide clients with a level of research, analytics and measurement that is unmatched in the public relations industry. On the net: http://www.racepointgroup.com.