NEWS CONTACTS: Eric Thomas or Frances Cox (202) 822-9491 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 7, 2006

Compete America Names Lynn Shotwell as New Chair

Executive Director of the American Council on International Personnel Assumes Leadership of Coalition for Highly Educated Immigration Reform

Washington, D.C. - The Compete America coalition announced today that Lynn Shotwell, Executive Director of the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP), will take over as the new Compete America Chair effective immediately. Sandra Boyd, former Human Resource Policy Vice President at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), has stepped down after chairing the coalition for eight years. Compete America is dedicated to securing legislation this year to permanently fix the H-1B visa and employment-based (EB) green card programs that U.S. employers use to recruit and retain top worldwide talent.

"Sandy Boyd has been an extremely effective champion of improving American competitiveness. Her tenure as Compete America Chair has been marked by a number of significant accomplishments," said Shotwell. "Numerous challenges remain as Compete America works to ensure that U.S. employers continue to have access to the talent needed to keep America competitive."

Before adjourning for the August recess, the House and Senate both introduced the SKIL Bill (S. 2691/H.R. 5744), which would provide the necessary reforms to the H-1B and EB green card systems. The comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate also includes remedies endorsed by Compete America. Other competitiveness bills have also been introduced that would address critical problems in these programs.

"Congress has before it in the SKIL Bill the reforms that are needed to fix the H-1B visa and EB green card systems once and for all," added Shotwell. "Fixing these programs for highly educated professionals is critical to keeping the United States on the cutting edge of innovation, and I look forward to continuing to work with federal lawmakers to make sure the needed reforms are enacted this year."

Compete America (www.competeamerica.org) is a coalition of more than 200 corporations, universities, research institutions and trade associations concerned about legal, employment-based immigration and committed to ensuring that the United States has the highly educated workforce necessary to ensure continued innovation, job creation and leadership in a worldwide economy.