BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 2004--The First Marblehead
Corporation (NYSE: FMD) today announced that Thomas Cesso will join
First Marblehead Corporation as Executive Vice President, Chief
Information Officer, a newly created position, effective January 3,
2005.
Mr. Cesso, age 46, will lead the formation and execution of all
Information Technology strategy and functions for First Marblehead,
relying on his almost 2 decades of senior-level experience in IT
planning, development, deployment, and operations. He will be charged
with ensuring that the IT infrastructure successfully enables First
Marblehead's growth.
Most recently, Mr. Cesso served as Executive Vice President and
CIO for Telerate, a global market data firm in New York, and Citigroup
Asset Management where he was Managing Director and Global Head of
Technology for worldwide IT. While at Citigroup, he built global
technology teams, and developed and deployed advanced investment
management, sales, marketing, and operations platforms. In addition,
Mr. Cesso previously served as Vice President of IT Architecture for
Fidelity Investments Systems Company, where he led planning and
implementation of major technology efforts across several areas of
business. Prior to this role, he served as Fidelity Investments
Systems' Vice President -- Relationship Manager and was responsible
for overseeing the development and infrastructure services for retail
marketing, distribution and operations.
Before that, he worked for Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst & Young, and
Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd & McGrath from 1986-1996. In each case, he
provided information technology and process improvement consulting
services to Fortune 1000 companies. He began his career with Raytheon
in 1981, where he was project manager involved in the construction of
the Patriot Anti-Missile Defense System.
Daniel Meyers, First Marblehead's Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman, said, "With the rapid growth First Marblehead has achieved
in the last couple of years, we have found our IT needs are becoming
increasingly more challenging. Tom's expertise and experience,
especially in creating IT solutions for companies in the financial
services field, will help facilitate our continued growth. We have
been very deliberate in our growth strategy to ensure that we are able
to continue increasing capacity and to build in adequate redundancies.
Tom is more than capable of enhancing and fortifying our position in
Information Technology, and we are glad to welcome him to our team."
Mr. Cesso said, "I am impressed by First Marblehead's strong
commitment to the continual enhancement and augmentation of its IT
platform. Keeping a company's IT operation running smoothly is always
a challenge given the evolving nature of technology. That challenge is
compounded by corporate expansion. I look forward to joining First
Marblehead and to keeping its IT platform robust and flexible to
accommodate its growth."
Mr. Cesso holds a B.S, and Masters in Engineering from the College
of Engineering at Boston University, and an MBA from the graduate
school of Management at Boston University.
About First Marblehead Corporation
First Marblehead provides outsourcing services for private,
non-governmental, education lending in the United States. The Company
helps meet the growing demand for private education loans by providing
national and regional financial institutions and educational
institutions, as well as businesses and other enterprises, with an
integrated suite of design, implementation and securitization services
for student loan programs tailored to meet the needs of their
respective customers, students, employees and members.
This is a "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements
contained herein, including statements related to our outlook for the
private student loan market in general and for our revenue, net income
and performance for fiscal year 2005 and beyond, are based upon the
Company's historical performance and on current plans, estimates and
expectations. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should
not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the
future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated by us will be
achieved. These forward-looking statements represent First
Marblehead's expectations as of December 22, 2004. Subsequent events
may cause our expectations to change, and we disclaim any obligation
to update the forward-looking statements in the future. You are
cautioned that matters subject to forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including economic,
regulatory and competitive and other factors that may cause First
Marblehead's performance or achievements to be materially different
than those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause First Marblehead's actual results
to differ from its expectations include the factors set forth under
the caption "Factors That May Affect Future Results" in First
Marblehead's annual report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on November 12, 2004. These risks could cause
actual results of the industry or our actual results for fiscal year
2005 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in any
forward-looking statement made by or on behalf of the Company.
CONTACT: First Marblehead Corporation
Donald R. Peck, 617-638-2000
or
Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc.
Cheryl Schneider, VP - Investor Relations
Jeff Myhre, VP - Editorial
212-564-4700
Tom Gibson, VP - Media Relations
201-476-0322
SOURCE: First Marblehead Corporation