SAN DIEGO - Nov. 8, 1999 - McQUERTER, San Diego's leading high-tech advertising and public relations agency, announced today the official implementation of the Wireless Partnership for Donor Awareness (WPDA) model company program. As a model company McQ has created an employee action committee to distribute materials, and facilitate special company and community activities to increase awareness of the critical need for organ and tissue donation and raise donations for the WPDA. Some of these activities include: Working with other industry groups -- McQUERTER negotiated 10 percent of the October Computer and Electronics Marketing Association (CEMA) Dollars and Sense of E-Commerce seminar to benefit the WPDA. Conducting community outreach programs to promote organ donation awareness and provide an opportunity to collaborate with schools, hospitals and other organizations. Planning two donor awareness telethons in which employees call friends and family to educate them about the need for donors in hopes of getting them to become donors. Encouraging employees to add in their email signatures a note that says, "Be an organ donor! McQUERTER is proud to be a WPDA Model Company!", along with a hyperlink to the WPDA website. Posting WPDA information on McQUERTER's website along with a link to the foundations site. Sharing committee progress and upcoming events in weekly staff email newsletter and monthly staff meetings. The WPDA is a program funded in part through the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA), and is a wireless communication industry-wide initiative to raise awareness of the critical need for organ and tissue donation. A yearlong pilot program was launched last April in cooperation with the Southern California Organ Procurement Center (SCOPC). Currently the WPDA is operating in Southern California and will roll-out in various location across the U.S. over the next year. Participation in WPDA is open to all wireless industry companies -- cellular, PCS, paging, private radio, SMR, LMDS, manufacturers, tower owners and managers, vendors, publications and associations. Companies interested in becoming a WPDA Model Company, should contact PCIA Foundation Director Anne Riser at 703-535-7470, or at risera@pcia.com. The PCIA Foundation supplies all materials and works closely with McQUERTER to ensure cohesion throughout the course of this pilot program, which will end in May, 2000. "As a model company, we have a unique opportunity to participate in a program that will help save lives," said Greg McQuerter, Agency president and CEO. "We are eager to improve the future of organ donation by raising awareness within our company, our community and our industry." "We are on the forefront of wireless technology every day and it is very rewarding to see our industry play such a vital role in saving lives," said Aaron Heinrich, general manager and vice president of public relations. "Being a model company gives us the opportunity to take the role that technology plays in donor awareness a step further and set an example for other companies to do the same." WPDA launched a Southern California initiative in April 1999. Model companies pledged to participate in campaigns designed to provide employees with information to make an informed decision about organ donation and to share that decision with their families. As a result of this effort, the WPDA hopes to increase the number of potential organ donors and also to increase knowledge about medicine's modern miracle of transplantation. Several other Southern California companies participate in the program and include: AirTouch, AT&T Wireless Services, Metrocall, PageNet, Primal Systems, SOS Wireless, and Wireless Knowledge. Representing the heart of the wireless communications industry, the mission of the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) Foundation is to improve and enrich the quality of people's lives through charitable programs and the altruistic application of wireless technology. The PCIA Foundation is the nonprofit tax-deductible education and charitable arm of PCIA. Through its commitment to the wireless vision, the PCIA Foundation is touching, protecting, enriching, and saving lives every day. For more information please visit PCIA Foundation's website at www.pcia.com/foundation. McQUERTER is a leading full-service business-to-business marketing communications agency specializing in telecom and information technology accounts. Incorporated in 1980, McQUERTER is headquartered in San Diego and has a branch office outside Washington D.C. The agency plans to open an office in Silicon Valley in 1999. For more information, reference the company's web-site at http://www.mcquerter.com.