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Impact of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 15:00 CDT

Oct. 11, 2005

_________ ROUND-UPS

Impact of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita (continued, 1 expert) 'Emotional Intelligence' in the Workplace (continued, 1 expert)

_____ LEADS

1. Business: Why is Customer Service at an All-Time Low? 2. Business: Has the Bubble Burst for Medical Device Mergers? 3. Finance: Regulation Bell Will Soon Toll for Hedge Funds 4. Technology: California's Anti-Phishing Law 5. Technology: The Race for Content and Media Convergence 6. Workplace: Women in the Workforce

ROUND-UP: Impact of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita (continued)

Following are experts who can discuss the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (While experts were submitted as part of a round-up on the impact of Hurricane Katrina, they most likely will also be able to discuss the impact of Hurricane Rita.)

Additional updates to the round-up will be posted at http://profnet.prnewswire.com/organik/orbital/thewire/lst_leads.jsp?iLRTopicID =10923 You may also find helpful our wiki-based resource of academic experts: http://www.katrinaexperts.com/

**1. MICHAEL MURDOCH, CEO of the Gulf Breeze, Fla.-based AppRiver, LLC, a provider of e-mail security services: "Businesses are now faced with the various challenges of rebuilding after a devastating hurricane. When Ivan bore down in 2004, AppRiver lost its building and many employees lost their homes and automobiles. Hurricane Dennis took a virtually identical path in July of this year, and AppRiver once again was met with more challenges." Murdoch can speak on the obstacles business owners will, and are, facing as they begin to rebuild their company or offices and how to overcome them. News Contact: Nermari Broderick, nermari@thepengroup.com Phone: +1-305-529-1944 (10/11/05)

ROUND-UP: 'Emotional Intelligence' in the Workplace (continued)

We've added the following to items posted previously at http://profnet.prnewswire.com/organik/orbital/thewire/lst_leads.jsp?iLRTopicID =765

**1. SHARON MASTRACCI, assistant professor of public administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says job descriptions should cover emotional labor. For a forthcoming book, Mastracci studied stress in the Cook County (Chicago) Public Guardian's office, the Illinois Department of Correction and a 911 dispatch center in Florida: "Emotional management is not recognized at all. People get paid for knowledge and skills, but not for emotional management. Emotional labor is just as demanding. For example, taking 911 calls involves much more than knowing how to answer a phone and having a pleasant speaking voice. People need to find out if they are up to the challenge from the start and not be surprised." News Contact: Anne Brooks Ranallo, aranallo@uic.edu Phone: +1-312-355-2523 (10/11/05)

_____ LEADS

**1. BUSINESS: WHY IS CUSTOMER SERVICE AT AN ALL-TIME LOW? MIKE ALBERT, CEO and founder of SATISFACTION SERVICES, a 16-year-old mystery shopping and quality evaluation services company: "Even Oprah Winfrey has recently been on the receiving end of this national phenomenon. It's a problem that plagues not just one industry, but also every market segment. However, it is most outrageous to find remarkably bad service in high-end businesses where we are supposedly paying higher prices for the value-add of superior service." Albert can provide anecdotes and customer satisfaction statistics. News Contact: Sandy Bell, sandybell@sbellinc.com Phone: +1-972-934-2850 (10/6/05)

**2. BUSINESS: has the bubble has burst for MEDICAL DEVICE mergers? Randolf Katz, a partner at Bryan Cave LLP, represented Irvine Biomedical Inc., a specialty cardiac product company that sold an 86 percent stake to existing shareholder St. Jude Medical Inc. for $47 million: "The total value of medical-device deals skyrocketed to $15.8 billion in 2004, compared with $1.1 billion for those in the 2003-earlier period, according to research firm Dealogic. So with 2005 coming to an end, has the bubble has burst for mergers in the medical device sector? There is value in making these deals." News Contact: Luis Mocete, luis.mocete@bryancave.com Phone: +1-212-541-1141 (10/6/05)

**3. FINANCE: REGULATION BELL WILL SOON TOLL FOR HEDGE FUNDS. CHERYL JEROME MOORE, securities attorney at Patton Boggs, LLP: "The Sarbanes-Oxley Act redefined how public companies not only report their finances, but their interactions, with regulatory agencies as well. Now, the SEC is taking aim at the largely unregulated world of hedge funds by putting into place new compliance rules set to take effect Feb. 1, 2006. These are strange times for hedge funds, especially since there has been little to no regulation before now. What were once considered trade secrets may now be viewed as public information, depending on how a hedge fund responds to the new requirements." News Contact: Bruce Vincent, bruce@legalpr.com Phone: +1-800-559-4534

**4. TECHNOLOGY: CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-PHISHING LAW. JOEL SMITH, CTO and co- founder of AppRiver, a provider of managed e-mail security services: "This is a great step forward and can set a precedent for other states to follow, but it will be ineffective in reducing the amount of phishing scams. This law may scare away some 'rookies,' but professional scammers who make a living out of spam and phishing will simply get more creative in the way they deliver their spam to avoid being caught or shut down." News Contact: Nermari Broderick, nermari@thepengroup.com Phone: +1-305-529-1944 (10/11/05)

**5. TECHNOLOGY: THE RACE FOR CONTENT AND MEDIA CONVERGENCE. IOLO JONES is a former advertising executive who founded Narrowstep, a company whose technology runs television programming via Internet protocol that can be played on multiple devices: "The line between telephone companies, cable companies and Internet service providers has been blurring and will soon become extinct as each intends to add the services it does not have. What are the technology constraints and strengths of each medium, and how will this affect their strategy to offer media content to its customers? How long before traditional advertising practices follow the 'open bid' model made popular by Google?" News Contact: Brian Kennedy, brian@allencaron.com Phone: +1-212-691- 8087 (10/11/05)

**6. WORKPLACE: WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE. PATRICIA GILLETTE, shareholder at Heller Ehrman LLP: "The 'best woman' lawyer President Bush can find for the U.S. Supreme Court is a woman who never married and has no children. That will be the only definition of a successful woman if highly qualified and highly educated women keep dropping out of the workforce. The fight for equal rights has not been won just because women can now get into law schools and law firms in equal numbers to men. At Heller Erhman, we believe the fight will only be won when law firms and other businesses are compelled to make a place for working parents, not just working moms. The presence of strong motivated women in the workforce is the only way to make that happen." News Contact: Wayne Kessler, wkessler@hewm.com Phone: +1-212-847-8680 (10/11/05)

PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire. To submit query by e-mail: profnet@profnet.com To consult the ProfNet Database: http://www.profnet.com/ To submit query by fax: 631-348-7906 To submit query by phone: +1-800-PROFNET To share a thought on the ProfNet Wire: leads@profnet.com

PRNewswire -- Oct. 11

ProfNet

Source: PRNewswire

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