Suciu Named President of SAS North America

SAS, a world leader in e-intelligence software and services, named Marianna Suciu president, SAS North America.

Suciu, who was previously SAS' vice president of U.S. commercial sales for SAS North America, will be charged with aligning the company's North American operations to maximize field opportunities for software sales and consulting engagements, and optimizing go-to-market strategies.

"Marianna's customer-focused perspective will be a tremendous asset as we continue to move our products onto the desktops of corporate decision makers," said Jim Goodnight, president and CEO. "With more than 15 years of day-to-day relationship building with both customers and software producers at SAS, her insight will be invaluable as the company moves forward with its aggressive goals."

As president of SAS North America, Suciu will direct the company's services, sales, and marketing activities throughout the United States and Canada, managing some 800 professionals. Suciu's charter includes helping to build strategic partnerships, nurturing growth, and shaping a knowledge-based, customer-centric future for the company.

SAS, which had 1999 revenues of $1.02 billion, is targeting $2 billion in 2003 and $3 billion by 2005. The company has become more aggressive as of late in its strategy to both acquire and create technology suited for e-business. In the past two months it spun off a new company, iBiomatics, and acquired a local start-up, DataFlux--Suciu is now a member of the DataFlux board of directors. SAS also recently launched a $30 million branding campaign which included a new logo and the slogan, "The Power to Know."

As vice president of U.S. commercial sales, Suciu directed the operations of eight geographic regions and more than 400 sales and sales-support personnel, and was responsible for more than $400 million in sales. She has been a key driver in the development and implementation of the Institute's business initiatives, including customer relationship management and Web strategies and has worked to bring e-intelligence synergy to the marketplace. She helped establish marketing channels that will assist in the marketing and promotion of the SAS brand.

Suciu joined SAS in 1985 as a senior account representative. From there, she began managing sales and marketing employees in U.S. regions, averaging 20 to 30 percent growth annually. Prior to joining SAS, Suciu developed experience in running a national accounts program and gained sales-management experience within the Dataflow Companies and Datec. She earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981.

About SAS

SAS, one of the world's largest privately held software companies, is a leader in decision support and data warehousing, providing integrated enterprise information-delivery solutions and e-business solutions. SAS markets packaged business solutions for vertical industry and departmental applications, as well as an integrated suite of software tools and consulting services. These allow companies to transform the wide variety of data within their organizations into information that business users and researchers need to make better decisions. SAS software and services are used at more than 33,000 business, government, and university sites in 115 countries. SAS' 1999 revenues totaled $1.02 billion. Please visit SAS' Web site: www.sas.com. Contact SAS Institute Inc, Les Hamashima or Pamela Meek, 919-677-8000 x5447, Les.Hamashima@sas.com.