February 18, 2006

Contact:

Lisa Bruner
Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network
(408) 278-2294 or bruner@jointventure.org

JOINT VENTURE ADDS UC CHANCELLOR AND TWO BUSINESS LEADERS TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

San Jose, CA – February 18, 2006. Denice Denton, Chancellor of University of California, Santa Cruz; Beatriz Infante, former President & CEO of Aspect Communications; and Pravesh Mehra, Managing Partner of Heidrick & Struggles, have been elected to the board of directors, Joint Venture president Russell Hancock announced today.

“We’re delighted to add such talent and stature as this to our board,” Mr. Hancock commented. “They will bring enormous strength to our current slate of initiatives; they will also help us chart new areas of work, including especially new initiatives in the area of higher education and regional competitiveness.”

Dr. Denton is Chancellor of University of California, Santa Cruz. Prior to her appointment she served for ten years as Dean of the College of Engineering at University of Washington. She has published nearly one hundred scholarly articles in her career, and her credentials include four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ms. Infante has spent the past twenty-seven years as a senior executive in a number of Silicon Valley’s leading technology companies. Most recently, she served as interim CEO of Sychron. Prior to that she was Chairman, President, & CEO of Aspect Telecommunications and led the company to record annual revenues of $600M. She holds a B.S. from Princeton University and an M.S. from California Institute of Technology.

Mr. Mehra has more than twenty years of experience in management consulting. Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles he was America’s Leader for Consulting Services at Capgemini. His former employers include Ernst & Young Consulting, Westinghouse Electric Co., and A.F. Ferguson & Co. He holds a B.S. from the University of Bombay and an M.B.A. from State University of New York at Buffalo.