Board of Directors Network, Inc.

Founding Member

Board of Directors Network Announces 2007 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award Winner Carolyn Byrd

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2007

Media Contact
Abe Abrams - 201-307-8186

Atlanta, Georgia - November 2, 2007 - Last night at a grand event at 103 West, Atlanta’s Board of Directors Network (BDN) announced that Carolyn Byrd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Tech Financial, is the 2007 recipient of the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award. This annual award, now in its fifth year, recognizes women who have made outstanding corporate contributions at the board level, in their communities, and in helping other women achieve full potential in the business world. “BDN is thrilled to present this award to Carolyn Byrd, especially since she is the model on which the award was based; an accomplished woman in her own right, an outstanding board member and an active advocate for other women,“ said President Kelly Gay of BDN. “Ms. Byrd embodies the intelligence, professionalism and unique perspective that BDN would like to see in every board room in Georgia.” The Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award is presented, annually, by BDN and KPMG LLP. The award is in honor of Mrs. Evans, who was appointed to the board of directors of The Coca-Cola Company in 1934 making her one of the first women to serve as a director of a major American corporation. She served on The Coca-Cola Company’s board for nearly 20 years. Ms. Byrd, herself an alumna of The Coca Cola Company (TCCC), joined TCCC in 1977 as a Senior Financial Analyst in Strategic Planning for the United States. In 1980, she was promoted to Manager of Corporate and U.S. Treasury Services. By 1981, she was elected Assistant Treasurer of The Coca-Cola Company and Manager of Latin American Treasury Services. In 1993, she was elected Chief of Internal Audits and Director of the Corporate Auditing Department. In addition to providing leadership for the worldwide audits of The Coca-Cola Company, she also led the provision of training and development for a diverse group of 61 professionals within her department. On November 1, 1997, Ms. Byrd became President of Coca-Cola Financial Corporation. In addition to managing the operations of Coca-Cola Financial Corporation, Ms. Byrd’s responsibilities included a variety of other important special strategic assignments. In May of 2000, Ms. Byrd founded Global Tech Financial, a business process outsourcing company specializing in loan and lease services, information technology, professional services and consulting. The Coca-Cola Company became Ms. Byrd’s first customer and the company flourished. By 2003, Global Tech Financial was listed as one of Atlanta’s top diversity firms by Diversity Business, with sales of over $2,100, 000. Today, the firm has more than 24 employees and annual revenues exceeding $3 million.

In 2005, Atlanta Woman magazine named Ms. Byrd one of the city’s top women entrepreneurs and cited family as one of her motivators. Ms. Byrd has been honored with the Governor’s Mentor Protégé Bridge Builder Award (2004), the National Women of Achievement Award (2000) and the Fisk Alumna of the Year Award (2002). In 2000, she was selected by Governor Roy Barnes as one of the Top 100 Corporate Women of Influence.

Ms. Byrd’s enthusiasm for leadership continued through her civic engagements and Board service. As a member of the Board of the Executive Leadership Council, Ms. Byrd worked to provide African American executives of Fortune 500 companies with a network and a leadership forum that added perspective and direction to the achievement of excellence in business. From 1994 through 2005, Ms. Byrd supported the Consumer Credit Counseling Services as Finance Committee Chairman. Her governmental appointments include Investment Committee Vice Chairman for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (1991 – 1998) and an Advisory Board Member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (2001 – 2003).

Ms. Byrd has had significant influence on women in business (and other arenas) within and outside of her firm. The majority of the vendors which service Global Tech Financial are minority or women owned businesses. Within her firm, women are provided training and other educational and career advancement opportunities. Ms. Byrd has volunteered her time to support the Northwest Georgia Girl Scout Council, The Coalition of 100 Black Women and The Links, Inc., an organization that responds to the needs and aspirations of Black women through programs which foster cultural appreciation through the arts and the development of rich inter-group relations. In each of these organizations Ms. Byrd has worked tirelessly on issues pertaining to women and towards their further advancement in the workplace and in life.

Understanding the importance of strong corporate governance, Ms. Byrd has worked with Circuit City, AFC Enterprises and the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) as an Audit Committee member. She was referred to APS by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce after working with the Chamber and she has been relied upon to improve both audit processes and the functioning of the Audit Committee.

As a board member for Circuit City Stores, The St. Paul Travelers, AFC Enterprises, RARE Hospitality, ReliaStar Financial Corp and ING Americas Insurance Holdings, Ms. Byrd has championed diversity representation on corporate boards for more than 15 years. She has made numerous recommendations to improve the diversity of the Boards on which she has held membership and is diligent in her commitment to mentoring and teaching women who aspire to board membership.

About BDN

The Board of Directors Network, Inc. (BDN) is a non-profit research and advisory organization that works to increase the number of women on corporate boards. In addition to preparing its annual census of companies’ board profiles, BDN confidentially collaborates with corporations and other key influencers of the director selection process to identify women candidates for board of directors’ positions. For information, call BDN at 770-489-6689 or visit the BDN web site, www.boarddirectorsnetwork.org.

About KPMG LLP

KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (www.us.kpmg.com), is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International. KPMG International’s member firms have 113,000 professionals, including more than 6,800 partners in 148 countries.