Press Release:

The Conference Board Joins
The Society of Corporate Secretaries
And Governance Professionals for
A Unique Series
Of Directors' Roundtables and Surveys

The Conference Board announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals that will enable the organizations to collaborate on programs for board directors and develop corporate governance surveys.

The Society, founded in 1946 as The American Society of Corporate Secretaries, will collaborate with The Conference Board's Directors' Institute, the premier provider of governance education for directors.

The organizations will hold their first joint Director Roundtable Forum on June 9-10 followed by another Roundtable on November 8-9 at The Links Club in New York City. The Directors' programs are open only to sitting corporate directors and are limited in size to enable high quality interaction focused on key topics such as: Directors' Fiduciary Duties in the New Environment, Effective Board Organization, Enterprise Risk and Strategic Performance, The Board's Oversight Role for Audit and Compensation, Effective Ethics Programs, and Liability and Directors and Officers Insurance Issues.

The Directors' Institute was developed in 2003 as part of The Conference Board's follow-up to its Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise recommendations to restore confidence in the corporate sector in the post-Enron era. It builds on decades of experience at The Conference Board in corporate governance issues.

CONFERENCE BOARD FACULTY INCLUDES PROMINENT DIRECTORS

"Our faculty includes many experienced corporate directors who can relate to our high-level business-oriented audiences from top corporations," says Dr. Carolyn Kay Brancato, Director of The Conference Board's Global Corporate Governance Research Center and its Directors' Institute. "In this era of expanding director responsibilities and sometimes onerous liability concerns, directors want to know how to conduct the appropriate amount of oversight without having to duplicate everything management and the auditors do."

Brancato said that The Conference Board is pleased to be collaborating with The Society since, "its members serve as the key gatekeepers for boards of the major companies in the United States." She added that The Society will also provide a critical intellectual component since it surveys its members for the leading edge governance issues on the minds of board members which can then be used to shape future Director Roundtable programs.

Society President David W. Smith said, "This collaboration is a win-win. The Society has the opportunity of joining The Conference Board to deliver best-in-class director education, and the Board gains access to our members' invaluable expertise in corporate governance. And, of course, the directors participating in the Directors' Institute roundtables win, too, since this collaboration will lead to better education for them."

Faculty for the programs includes judicial representatives from the Delaware Courts, the PCAOB (the accounting oversight body), leading institutional investors and experts representing key governance perspectives. Also providing faculty in their expert subject areas are the sponsors of The Directors' Institute: The Chubb Corporation, Jones Day, McKinsey & Company, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In addition to its open Forum programs, The Directors' Institute is also certified by Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. to conduct in-house programs at individual company board meetings. To register for either the June or November Forum, or to inquire about in-house programs, please call Irene Sobol at (212) 339-0392 or visit (www.conference-board.org/directorsinstitute.htm)

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

The Conference Board (www.conference-board.org) is the leading global business knowledge network for the world's largest corporations. The Conference Board is dedicated to helping companies improve performance and strengthening the role of business in society. More than 2,000 companies in 60 countries are members of The Conference Board, which produces the Consumer Confidence Index, the Help-Wanted Index and Business Cycle Indicators for nine countries worldwide.

The Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, Inc. (www.governanceprofessionals.org) is a professional association founded in 1946 as the American Society of Corporate Secretaries. Its name was changed in 2005 to reflect the corporate governance role that so many of its members — more than 3,800 corporate attorneys and governance and business executives representing more than 2,500 companies — play in their organizations. The job responsibilities of its members include working with corporate boards of directors and senior management regarding corporate governance, ethics and compliance; assuring issuer compliance with securities regulations and listing requirements; and coordinating activities with shareholders, including proxy voting for the annual meeting of shareholders and negotiation of shareholder proposals. For inquiries regarding Society communications please call Geoff Loftus, Vice President, at 212-681-2000 or e-mail gloftus@governanceprofessionals.org.

The Sponsors of The Directors' Institute:

The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies (www.chubb.com), which trace their origin back to 1882, currently operate under The Chubb Corporation, incorporated in 1967 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1984. Chubb ranks among the top 10 publicly traded insurance organizations based on revenues in the United States. With more than 11,000 employees throughout North America, Europe, South America, and the Pacific Rim, Chubb serves property and casualty customers from more than 125 offices in 30 countries and works closely with 5,000 independent agents and brokers worldwide.

Jones Day (www1.jonesday.com) has grown, in response to its clients' needs, from a small, local practice to a truly global firm with more than 2,200 lawyers in 30 offices around the world. Today, Jones Day is one of the largest international law firms, and it counts more than 250 of the Fortune 500 among its clients.

McKinsey & Company (http://www.mckinsey.com) has, for 75 years, helped business leaders address their greatest challenges, from reorganizing for long-term growth to improving business performance and maximizing revenue.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services for public and private clients. More than 120,000 people in 139 countries connect their thinking, experience and solutions to build public trust and enhance value for clients and their stakeholders. Unless otherwise indicated, "PricewaterhouseCoopers" refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited.

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