NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Todd Hallidy

Phone: (302) 577-8314

Date: April 17, 2001

A.G. BRADY RECOGNIZES "FRIENDS OF DELAWARE INVESTORS"

(Newark, DE) - Attorney General M. Jane Brady today presented awards to three individuals identified by her Securities Unit as "Friends of the Delaware Investor." Securities Commissioner James B. Ropp also took part in the presentations. All three award recipients were recognized for volunteering their time to participate as featured speakers at public investor education programs hosted by the Securities Unit for the past several years.

The awards were presented to Ronald Long, the Philadelphia District Director of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission: Jack W. Sherman, Coordinator for Economic Security with the AARP; and Dr. Helen Bowers, Associate Professor at the College of Business & Economics at the University of Delaware.

"We've been fortunate in Delaware to have these knowledgeable individuals as partners in our ongoing efforts to provide useful information to the public," said Attorney General Brady. "Without their enthusiasm and willingness to participate, our Investor Education Conferences would not be so successful."

The award presentations were made today, during the latest in a series of Investment Education Conferences, at the Newark Senior Center. Approximately 100 members of the public registered for the free conference. Four such conferences were sponsored by the Securities Unit at locations throughout Delaware this month, providing approximately 400 citizens with information about investing basics, on-line trading, options trading, saving for retirement and investment frauds. The annual April conferences in Delaware are held in conjunction with the Fourth Annual "Facts on Saving and Investing Campaign" sponsored nationally by the North American Securities Administrators Association.

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