MARINA DEL REY, Calif. (May 01, 2001) -- Jim Howard, formerly Managing Executive, Southwest Region, for the professional services firm marchFIRST (Nasdaq: MRCH; MRCHQ), has been named Chief Executive Officer of CrownPeak Technology, a new company specializing in providing content and asset management as a service.

At marchFIRST, Howard, 36, was responsible for all aspects of management for a 700-person, five-office, region. Prior to that, he managed the merger between Whittman-Hart and USWeb/CKS's southern operations, where he successfully combined disparate management teams, financial systems, and operational components as the Managing Executive, Operations, Southwest Group.

CrownPeak Technology (www.crownpeak.com) was formed earlier this year by a top technical team from the Internet professional services sector. After five years of building Content Management Systems (CMS) for Global 3000 companies, the team recognized the need for a competitive Application Service Provider (ASP) model CMS. By building and hosting the easy-to-use administrative interfaces and pushing the final assembled pages to client Web servers, CrownPeak provides integration into existing web sites without the hassle of installing, integrating, and maintaining complex CMS software.

Howard's professional background combines extensive startup experience with years of software development and professional services delivery and management. His first job, with Ivanhoe Industries -- a specialty chemical trading firm, which still operates successfully in its niche - was also his first startup. After a number of years working and living abroad, Howard returned to the United States in 1994 to join W3-design, the first Internet consultancy in Los Angeles, where he ran Client Services and Business Development.

W3 achieved a highly successful exit strategy when it became a part of USWeb just prior to the public offering in 1997. As an Associate Partner, and later a Partner, with USWeb (and then USWeb/CKS), Howard sold and ran many of the company's largest projects. He was promoted to Partner, Business Development, Southwest Region, where he personally brought in more than $30 million in new business and exceeded regional revenue targets for six consecutive quarters.

About Crown Peak Technology
Based in Marina del Rey, Calif., CrownPeak Technology is the first company to provide world-class content management as a service, so that secure, feature-rich, enterprise level technology can be made available economically.  As the premier hosted application provider, CrownPeak offers in Advantage CMS a feature set that is helping to redefine the content management space.  The company's comprehensive developer environment, industry-leading service levels and "risk-free" outsourcing options have made CrownPeak one of the fastest growing companies in its sector.

Press contact:
Erin Lumley
SHIFT Communications
elumley@shiftcomm.com
415.591.8414