Contact: Mary Margaret Colliver

“Experience, competition and the strong possibility of employment – what a winning combination for our students! We are delighted to partner with HOST in this creative joint endeavor initiated by Host Communications to provide an exciting opportunity for our MBA program.”

Devanathan Sudharshan,
dean,
UK Gatton College of Business and Economics

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 15, 2004) -- NBC’s “The Apprentice” is one of the most popular television shows right now, and Host Communications will soon be telling one University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics’ MBA student that they are hired, not fired, as a spin-off of the hit show. HOST and the UK business college are working together to boost the future of one student with a job offer at the end of this summer.

“HOST is thrilled to work with the UK Gatton College of Business and Economics on this unique process of finding a strong new member of our company,” said HOST chief executive officer and president Gordon Whitener. “I watch ‘The Apprentice’ regularly and can definitely say I am happy that I will be saying ‘you’re hired’ instead of ‘you’re fired’ at the end of this process.”

“Experience, competition and the strong possibility of employment – what a winning combination for our students! We are delighted to partner with HOST in this creative joint endeavor initiated by Host Communications to provide an exciting opportunity for our MBA program,” said D. Sudharshan, dean of the UK Gatton College of Business and Economics.

The process for the program is as follows:

• Three MBA students will be selected from an interview process of all Gatton College graduate students who are interested in the opportunity.
• The students will enter into a three-month paid internship with HOST during June, July and August.
• The primary focus of these students is to develop a marketing and promotional strategy for a regional rodeo event.
• Each student will be assigned a market and will compete with the other students to determine which individual produced the greatest Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI will be based on paid attendance for the events.
• The “winning” student will be offered a full-time position with HOST.

The University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics is a leading business school in the country and its faculty and staff are involved in cutting edge research and curriculum design and delivery to undergraduate, graduate and executive participants. For more information, go to Gatton College of Business and Economics Web site.

Named as one of the top five companies in the world of sports marketing by SportsBusiness Journal, HOST provides comprehensive sales, affinity marketing, multimedia, promotional and management services to universities, athletics conferences, associations and corporations. Founded in 1972, HOST is the centerpiece subsidiary of Bull Run Corporation. Additional information on HOST can be found online.