STEWART, GUEST ELECTED CHAIR, VICE CHAIR OF IRVING CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU BOARD

IRVING, TEXAS (February 2008) - The Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB) board of directors elected Richard G. Stewart Jr. and J. Ike Guest to serve as chair and vice-chair, respectively, for the next year. Their terms as officers begin immediately.

Assistant General Counsel at Verizon, Stewart has been with the company (and its predecessor GTE Corp.) since 1994, following a distinguished Naval career. He was recognized by the Dallas Bar Foundation (DBF) for his outstanding service as the Foundation\'s 2006 Fellows Chair. A past chairman of Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, Stewart is a Texas Bar Foundation Fellow and DBF Fellow, and has served on the Dallas Bar Association board of directors. In addition, he is past chairman of the City of Irving Planning and Zoning Commission and currently serves as vice chairman of the Las Colinas Medical Center board of directors. He has served on the ICVB board since 2002.

Guest, who joined the ICVB board in 2005, is a CPA and a partner with Lightfoot, Guest, Moore & Co., PC. He is a past chairman for the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce, past finance committee chairman of the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association and served on the Irving Citizens Charter Review Committee. Guest has held various leadership roles in public accounting organizations, and in 2002 he received the highest award granted by the Texas State Board of Public Accounting - the Meritorious Service to Public Accounting Profession in Texas. He was also named a Distinguished Accounting Alumnus by Oklahoma State University.

The Irving City Council recently added two new voting positions to the ICVB board. An additional seat was designated for an Irving hotelier, as well as a spot for a hospitality industry-at-large representative. Appointed to those positions were Michael Vance, general manager of the Omni Mandalay Hotel, and Michael Barns, a longtime Irving resident and retired senior executive with AVW Audio Visual, Inc. Both Vance and Barns have previous experience on the ICVB board. Barns was a 1999 inductee to the Convention Industry Council Hall of Leaders, which recognizes hospitality industry leaders who have shaped the industry. Vance is president of the Hotel Association of Greater Dallas.

In addition, the Irving City Council appointed residents James Cassels, Raymond \"Ed\" McCarty and Roy Santoscoy to fill board positions that had expired, and Chris Arrington to serve out the term of the late Jennings Smith.

The ICVB board of directors, comprised of 11 voting and seven non-voting members, is a policy-making body that oversees bureau operations. Board members are appointed by the Irving City Council for up to three two-year renewable terms.