Chrysalis Ventures

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE

Ernst & Young
400 W. Market Street, Suite 2100
Louisville, KY 40202
www.ey.com/us/eoy
Kelley Bright - 502-585-6460

Ernst & Young
312 Walnut Street, Suite 1900
Cincinnati, OH 45202
www.ey.com/us/eoy
Beth Kaufhold - 937-640-6009

Southern Ohio and Kentucky Entrepreneurs Named
Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2004 Award Winners

CINCINNATI, June 24, 2004 – Professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP announced today the winners of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2004 Awards. An independent panel of judges comprised of local community and business leaders selected the award recipients.

The Southern Ohio and Kentucky recipients of Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) are:

• Distribution: Kenneth G. Oaks and Ryan Legg, Total Quality Logistics, Inc., (Cincinnati, OH). This freight brokerage company provides service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to its client base, using cutting-edge technology to ensure on-time and on-quality delivery.

• Manufacturing: James Kirchdorfer, Jr., ISCO Industries, LLC (Louisville, KY). Kirchdorfer operates a HDPE piping company and has successfully grown it through acquisition and expansion across Kentucky and the U.S.

• Media/Marketing: Ken Lowe, The E.W. Scripps Company (Cincinnati, OH). After coming up with the concept of “Home and Garden Television” (HGTV), Lowe built Scripps Network, the cable television network into one of the nation’s fastest-growing and unique brands for television and the Internet.

• Michael J. Burke Award for Supporter of Entrepreneurship: Robert Saunders, Chrysalis Ventures (Louisville, KY). Saunders is dedicated to entrepreneurs as evidenced by having founded the African American Venture Capital Fund, the Venture Club of Louisville and serving as the chair and organizer of the 2003 Great Midwest Venture Capital Conference.

• Realizing Business Potential: Jeff Amrein, John Reinhart, Ed Kenney and Jim Orms, Advanced Imaging Concepts, Inc., (Louisville, KY). Serving the medical community, AIC’s document imaging systems allow its customers to operate paperless offices and to electronically write and document prescriptions.

• Retail: Matt Thornton, Thorntons, Inc. (Louisville, KY). Strategic partnerships with the right brands, combined with items at the right price has helped Thorntons achieve growth and success across Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Connecticut.

• Services: Jerry Clum, CK Franchising, Inc./Comfort Keepers (Dayton, OH). Comfort Keepers provides daily living assistance to senior citizens, preventing premature moves to nursing homes facilities. CK Franchising provides in-home care to thousands across the US and Canada.

• Socially Responsible: Michael Davis and Douglas Cobb, Appriss (Louisville, KY). Known for creating the VINE system to alert victims of prison releases. The company has significantly expanded its reach and is the nation’s leading automated victim notification solution.

• Technology: Thomas Nies, Cincom Systems, Inc. (Cincinnati, OH). Cincom is a software pioneer, as evidenced by being named the first software firm to produce a database management system, the first American software firm to recognize international markets, and the first single vendor to be selected by the U.S. Government as a standard for government agencies.

• Master: Wade Thompson, Thor Industries, Inc. (Jackson Center, OH). Thor is the world’s largest RV and small- to mid-size bus manufacturer. A cancer survivor himself, in 2000 Thompson had a $300,000 Airstream RV designed and built to offer free prostate screenings. To date, the vehicle has traveled 125,000+ miles and will provide its 30,000th screening in 2004.

“Entrepreneur Of The Year award recipients embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and determination necessary to achieve success,” said Tom O’Neil, Southern Ohio and Kentucky’s EOY Program Director. “Ernst & Young is proud of its history recognizing and supporting these outstanding leaders and their companies.”

Southern Ohio and Kentucky award recipients are now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2004 national program. Award Recipients in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, Calif., in November 2004. The overall national Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner is then considered for the world event held in Monte Carlo.

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program in the Southern Ohio and Kentucky program is locally sponsored by Cincinnati Business Courier; Keating, Muething & Klekamp, PLL; The Kentucky Office for the New Economy; and the Ohio Department of Development. National sponsors include Microsoft Corporation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

About The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Awards Program

The Entrepreneur Of The Year awards program was created and is produced by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP. As the first award of its kind, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic and growing businesses. The program honors entrepreneurs through regional, national and global award programs in over 100 cities and 35 countries.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young, a global leader in professional services, is committed to restoring the public’s trust in professional services firms and in the quality of financial reporting. Its 103,000 people in more than 140 countries around the globe pursue the highest levels of integrity, quality, and professionalism to provide clients with solutions based on financial, transactional, and risk-management knowledge in Ernst & Young's core services of audit, tax, and transaction services. Ernst & Young practices also provide legal services in those parts of the world where permitted. Further information about Ernst & Young and its approach to a variety of business issues can be found at www.ey.com/perspectives. Ernst & Young refers to all the members of the global Ernst & Young organization.

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