Santa Barbara, CA - September 18, 2003


Focus on International Legal Affairs and Employment Law ACC Honors Professional Contributions of Substantive Law Committees

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) will present its 2003 Jonathan S. Silber award for outstanding committee member of the year to Richard C. Mosher, director and legal counsel of Absolute Business, Inc. (Sandy, UT), and chair of ACC's International Legal Affairs Committee (www.acca.com/networks/ilegalaff.php). Additionally, ACC's Labor and Employment Law Committee (www.acca.com/networks/lelaw.php) will be honored as the "Committee of the Year." Both awards will be given at ACC's 2003 Annual Meeting, taking place October 8-10 in San Francisco. Timothy J. Mahota, general counsel and chief compliance officer of Partnervest Financial Group LLC (Santa Barbara, CA), and chair of the Labor and Employment Law Committee, will accept its award on the committee's behalf.


"These awards spotlight the great strength of this association: the willingness of ACC members to share their valuable time and expertise," noted Frederick J. Krebs, ACC president. "Dick Mosher and the leaders of the Labor and Employment Law Committee have continued the ACC member tradition of outstanding service and commitment to the benefit of the in-house legal community."


As chair of the volunteer-driven International Legal Affairs Committee, which serves 2300 ACC members worldwide, Mosher inspired renewed levels of activity. He personally spearheaded such projects as substantive law programs broadcast over the committee's website and an InfoPAKSM publication on "Doing Business Internationally." Mosher has 30 years of experience in international cross-cultural negotiations. Prior to joining Absolute Business, he was associate general counsel and assistant secretary at Maytag and Hoover Co., assistant general counsel at Ball Corporation, Ball Aerospace, and associate at Fujiyama, Duffy & Fujiyama. Mosher is director of the Tacoma (WA) Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneurial Network, and advises the U.S. Postal Service in litigation and claims. He is also a member of the faculty at the University of Phoenix. Mosher is a graduate of Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Northwestern University Law School (Chicago), and the Center for Creative Leadership (Colorado Springs).


ACC's Labor and Employment Law Committee serves over 3000 ACC members worldwide. Most notably, under Mahota's volunteer leadership, the committee was invited by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to provide the Commission with the workplace perspective by participating in preliminary discussions on religious accommodation and ADR. Additionally, the committee submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor on its proposed revisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rule. Mahota is an ERISA expert, and serves on the U.S. Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council. Prior to Partnervest's spinoff from Integral Development Corporation, Mahota served as Integral's general counsel, as general counsel to Mercer Global Advisors, Inc., and was an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Division of Enforcement) and at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Mahota participates in numerous professional securities organizations and is licensed by the National Association of Securities Dealers as a general securities principal, municipal securities principal, options principal, and as a general securities representative. Mahota received a BA from John Carroll University, a JD from Ohio State University, and an LLM in Securities Regulation and a Certification in Employee Benefits Law from Georgetown University Law Center.


About ACC
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), formerly the American Corporate Counsel Association, is the in-house bar associationSM, serving the professional needs of attorneys who practice in the legal departments of corporations and other private sector organizations worldwide. The association promotes the common interests of its members, contributes to their continuing education, seeks to improve understanding of the role of in-house attorneys, and encourages advancements in standards of corporate legal practice. Since its founding in 1982, the association has grown to more than 15,000 members in 47 countries who represent over 7000 corporations, with 43 chapters and 12 committees serving the membership. Its members represent 47 of the Fortune 50 companies and 96 of the Fortune 100 companies. Internationally, its members represent 42 of the Global 50 and 75 of the Global 100 companies. For more information, go to www.acca.com.


About Partnervest
Partnervest Financial Group LLC, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, is a privately owned full-service financial services, technology and consulting company. Partnervest and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Partnervest Securities, Inc. (Member NASD/SIPC), Partnervest Advisory Services LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor, and Partnervest Insurance Services LLC, an Insurance Agency, provide the full spectrum of financial services and products, as well as back-office operations, compliance, and business consulting services. Partnervest Technology Group provides multi tiered applications and an ASP model for account aggregation, electronic imaging, portfolio reporting, reconciliation, and integration management of financial service databases. For further information contact Partnervest at 805) 966-1266 or at www.partnervest.com.