FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Pete Winton, County Administration
                (941) 335-2777

FORT MYERS, Fla. (January 2, 2002) – Lee County Administration announced today that George A. Williams has been hired as the county’s new Human Resources Director.

Williams has nearly 20 years of human resources management experience in health care, telecommunications and the military. He most recently was vice president of human resources for Bon Secours St. Joseph Healthcare Group in Port Charlotte. Williams was a human resources director for Humana Inc. in San Antonio and Orlando, and an HR staff manager for Lucent Technologies in New Jersey. He is a former Captain and 8? -year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a personnel director.

"We welcome George to the county team," says Deputy County Manager Bill Hammond. "He brings a wealth of human resources experience and a lot of enthusiasm for quality improvement and employee development."

Williams has a bachelor’s degree in counseling/sociology from East Texas State University in Commerce, Texas. He also has 63 hours of post-graduate credits in human relations, organizational behavior and administrative science from various universities and institutes.

A four-member screening panel of local business representatives and county employees interviewed five finalists for the position and recommended three, including Williams, for final interviews with County Management.

Lee County Human Resources manages the records, employee relations, benefits, staffing and compensation of Lee County Government’s 25 departments and divisions and 2,000 employees.