Hostway CEO Lucas Roh Wins 20th Annual KPMG Illinois High Tech Award

Chicago—November 24, 2003—Lucas Roh, CEO of Web hosting leader Hostway Corporation, is among seven executives from four companies to win the 20th annual Illinois High Tech Awards presented by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP. A ceremony tonight at Chicago's Ritz-Carlton Hotel will honor the winners.

"This is a tremendous honor for every one of our employees and recognition of their hard work and achievements of the past five years," said Roh, who founded Hostway in 1998 and has led the company to its current stature among the world’s five largest Web hosting companies. "It’s gratifying to be included among this year’s award winners as we mark a generation of progress in the Chicago technology community."

KPMG cited Roh and the other honorees for "contributing to innovations that have changed the way we live and work."

Roh said the company will continue its strategy of global growth and diversification into complementary managed Internet services. He noted Hostway has at least doubled its revenues each year while recording a profit in every quarter of its history, achieving its financial success without any outside capital.

In addition to Hostway’s Roh, the other Illinois High Tech Award winners are Judson Green, President and CEO of Navigation Technologies Corporation, Chicago; Henry Adams, CEO of Sportvision, Inc., Chicago; and the senior management team of TouchSensor Technologies, LLC, Wheaton, Ill., including Chief Technology Officer and Founder David W. Caldwell, President and COO Thomas M. Schreiber, Director of Operations Scott Roberts, and Director of Engineering Bahar N. Wadia.

"This year’s winners and finalists have succeeded in continuing their development and commercialization of products that were not even imagined when we first launched these awards two decades ago," said Judy Freeman, partner in charge of KPMG’s Information, Communications and Entertainment practice in Chicago. "They have combined strong management and a solid strategy with outstanding products or services that the judges believe have made significant technological advances."

KPMG’s Illinois High Tech Awards remains the only program that exclusively recognizes and honors the achievements of the Illinois high-tech industry. The program was developed to celebrate the success of Illinois high-tech entrepreneurs who have overcome significant marketplace risks to successfully develop innovative products and generate new jobs in Illinois. Previous winners have led their fields in areas such as modem technology; Internet-browsers; Internet grocery shopping; online auctions, and much more.