URS adheres to sound principles of corporate governance not because we are required to do so by law, but because they are good for our business, our clients, our employees and our stockholders. As a service business, maintaining a reputation for excellence, integrity and credibility is essential for our success.

Towards this end, we strive to foster a corporate culture in which high standards of ethical behavior, individual accountability and transparent disclosure are not just expected, but ingrained in every employee, officer and director. Corporate governance excellence has been a URS hallmark for many years. Long before the recent public focus on corporate behavior, the issuance of recommendations from various "Blue Ribbon" commissions and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, we have adopted extensive corporate governance guidelines consistent with our vision of best practices.

For many years URS has maintained a Board of Directors consisting of at least a majority of independent directors and currently nine out of ten URS directors qualify as independent. In addition, our Board committees operate under written charters and are composed entirely of independent directors.