2001 Outsourcing World Achievement Award Winners Honored for Contributions to Outsourcing...

Business Editors

PALM DESERT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2001

Four distinguished members of the international business, government and academic communities were honored for their contributions to the outsourcing industry at the 2001 Outsourcing World Achievement Awards,

This year's award winners are: John R. Fischer, recently retired senior vice president, Mynd, Inc., and former vice president of AT&T Worldwide Outsourcing Practice; Stephen Goldsmith, former mayor of Indianapolis and newly appointed head of the Corporation for National Service, a program of President Bush's new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; Peter Bendor-Samuel, publisher, The Outsourcing Journal; and Dr. Leslie P. Willcocks, fellow and university reader, Information Management, Templeton College and Said Business School, University of Oxford, and editor-in-chief, Journal of Information Technology.

Now in its third year, the prestigious awards recognize individuals in business, government and academia for their outsourcing work. This year's finalists and winners were selected by a judges' panel of leading authorities in the outsourcing industry, some of whom were former OWAA winners. The winners were announced at The 2001 Outsourcing World Summit in Palm Desert, California, on February 20 at a special luncheon and awards ceremony, where they and the other finalists were guests of honor.

Notable accomplishments of the winners include:

-- Academic Winner: Dr. Leslie P. Willcocks is highly regarded in the
international business and government communities for his work as a researcher,
author, speaker and consultant on IT outsourcing, e-business, Information
Management and IT evaluation. He is considered by many as one of the few
independent thinkers on the complex subject of outsourcing. His ground-breaking
research has helped determine fundamental drivers of success in IT outsourcing
as well as establish key performance criteria linked to value delivery.

-- Advisor/Consultant/Analyst Winner: Peter Bendor-Samuel has made significant
contributions to the outsourcing industry as an author, publisher and
consultant. He is publisher of The Outsourcing Journal, a leading trade
publication; chief executive officer and founder of the Outsourcing Center, the
world's largest online community for outsourcing information; founder of the
Outsourcing Exchange Center, a B2B marketplace for the industry; and author of
Turning Lead into Gold: The Demystification of Outsourcing, which provides
insight into outsourcing as a powerful management tool. He also established the
Everest Group, which provides outsourcing consulting services.

-- Corporate Provider Winner: John R. Fischer is noted for his vision and
ability to develop and build successful outsourcing practices at such companies
as AT&T and Digital Equipment. His work with technology companies also led to
the pioneering concept of `distributed computing' outsourcing. Fischer recently
retired from Mynd, where he is credited with building the company into one of
the premier business process outsourcing services providers to the insurance
and financial services industry.

-- Corporate User/Government Executive Winner: While serving as mayor of
Indianapolis, Stephen Goldsmith was nationally recognized by the Ford
Foundation and other distinguished organizations for his innovations in
American government. His initiatives included the use of outsourcing as a way
to significantly increase operating efficiency while reducing costs. Under
Goldsmith's leadership, Indianapolis saved several hundred million dollars by
outsourcing non-core city services to outside services providers.

John Barnsley, global leader of the Business Process Outsourcing group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, "Through their hard work and dedication, this year's winners have helped to create a very dynamic marketplace in which outsourcing organizations and service providers work together as partners to achieve significant strategic objectives. The marketplace has matured to the point where companies can confidently outsource entire departments, not just discrete functions, to create an operating structure designed to maneuver successfully in the New Economy."

Michael F. Corbett, president of Michael F. Corbett & Associates, said, "The contributions that these individuals have made will be even more important in the years to come. Outsourcing spending by U.S. corporations is growing 20 percent a year. It is already larger than the combined revenues of the five largest U.S. companies, and it is three times global e-commerce spending. Outsourcing is the future of business, and these individuals have help set the foundation for that future."

Michael F. Corbett & Associates, Ltd. (www.CorbettAssociates.com) is globally

recognized as a leading authority on outsourcing and e-sourcing and is dedicated to advancing outsourcing as a powerful management discipline. The firm educates thousands of executives annually on these topics through The Outsourcing World Summit Conference Series, Firmbuilder.com (www.Firmbuilder.com), executive symposiums, research and training programs, and direct advice and counsel to executives at many of the world's leading organizations.

The company's president, Michael F. Corbett, also chairs and is executive director of the Outsourcing Research Council, a leading executive forum for knowledge sharing and innovative thinking on outsourcing. The council conducts proprietary research for members into critical management issues around outsourcing and supports outside research and publication at leading business schools.

The Business Process Outsourcing group at PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com/bpo) serves as the Global Back Office(R) for multinational corporations and other large organizations around the world -- leveraging and integrating the core process expertise of outsourcing professionals in finance/accounting, applications process, procurement, human resources and real estate process.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com) is the world's largest professional services organization. Drawing on the knowledge and skills of more than 150,000 people in 150 countries, we help our clients solve complex business problems and measurably enhance their ability to build value, manage risk and improve performance in an Internet-enabled world.

PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to the member firms of the worldwide PricewaterhouseCoopers organization.

Note to Editors: Global Back Office is a registered trademark of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

For more information about the Business Process Outsourcing group at PricewaterhouseCoopers, please visit Web sites www.bpo.com or www.pwcglobal.com/bpo or use the Internet Keywords "BPO" or "business process outsourcing."

For more information about Michael F. Corbett & Associates, please visit www.CorbettAssociates.com.