Vet News: Veterans Advantage ® Honors SEC Chairman nominee with Top Veteran award

Greenwich, CT
December 19, 2002

Veterans Advantage Inc., a nationwide membership program providing private-sector benefits for U.S. Veterans, National Guard, Reservists, active duty military and their families, announced that William Donaldson, President Bush’s choice to serve as the 27th chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was named a “TopVet,” an honor that appeared on www.Veteransadvantage.com.

As described in a biography featured on Veteransadvantage.com, the former U.S. Marine and head of the New York Stock Exchange, served as an officer in the Far Eastern Theatre from 1953-55. Later, he rose to prominence on Wall Street as a principal and founder of the brokerage firm Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.

His nomination by President Bush is seen as a sound move to invigorate confidence in U.S. business and global financial markets.

“Bill Donaldson will be a strong leader with a clear mission – to vigorously enforce the nation's laws against corporate corruption and uphold the highest standards of integrity in the securities markets,” the President said in introducing his nominee at a news conference on December 10.

“We at Veterans Advantage have always celebrated TopVets as great Americans who served our country with honor as soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, and later became great role models outside military service,” said Scott Higgins, CEO of Veterans Advantage. “We are fascinated by Bill Donaldson’s story and honored to be recognizing his contributions to our national freedoms and the American economy.”

Veterans Advantage Honors SEC Nominee

“Bill Donaldson is a Marine who served his country with distinction, and achieved great success in the business world. As he assumes this enormously challenging position, we wish him well and are pleased to honor him with this TopVet designation.”

William Henry Donaldson, who was born in Buffalo, New York, earned his BA from Yale in 1953. After completing his military service, he earned his MBA from Harvard, graduating with distinction. During the course of his career, he has been awarded a number of honorary degrees.

He also was a founding dean of the Yale School of Management and held a tenured chair as the William S. Beinecke Professor of Management from 1975-80. He served as Under Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger from 1973-75 in the Nixon and Ford administrations and as an advisor to Nelson Rockefeller during his brief tenure as Vice President.

Other recent Veterans Advantage honorees with special citations from Veterans Advantage include:

• California Governor Gray Davis
• New York Congressman Charles Rangel
• TV and Movie actor Chuck Norris
• Lt. Gen Martin Steele, CEO of the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum
• Edward H. Vick, Former CEO of Y&R Advertising
• Talk show host Montel Williams
• Former football greats Roger Staubach and Rocky Bleier

About Veterans Advantage

Veterans Advantage is a nationwide membership program dedicated to delivering benefits to America's Veterans, Active Duty Military, National Guard, Reservists, and their families. This members-only program delivers valuable discounts on rail travel from Amtrak, PC systems from Dell Computer (NASDAQ: DELL), rental cars from major car rental agencies including Ford Motor Co.'s Hertz Corp. (NYSE: F), Avis (NYSE:CD), Enterprise, ANC Rental Corporation’s National Car Rental and Alamo (NASDAQ: ANCX), and Budget Group, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BDGPA), entertainment discounts from Disney (NYSE:DIS), Anheuser-Busch Company’s Busch Gardens and Sea World (NYSE:BUD), Blockbuster Inc (NYSE:BBI), AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMEX: AEN), hotel and vacation rentals from USA Interactive (NASDAQ: USAI), a free prescription drugs discount card from Advance PCS NASDAQ:ADVP) and interstate moving discounts from North American Van Lines (NASDAQ: NAVL).