JOHN BERRIGAN RETIRES FROM NATIONAL ANALYSTS; FIRM TRANSITIONS TO EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE UNDER LEADERSHIP OF CEO, SUSAN SCHWARTZ McDONALD

Firm will continue to provide strategic market research consulting support in select industries

PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 7, 2004) - National Analysts, Inc., the Philadelphia-based market research and consulting firm, has announced the retirement of its Chairman, John Berrigan, who - along with co-owner and CEO, Susan Schwartz McDonald - has led the firm for the past 11 years. Berrigan's financial interests in the company are being acquired by the firm's employees under an ESOP Trust (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). McDonald, who remains at the helm as Chairman and CEO, will retain a controlling interest in the firm.

"We're very excited about this transition because it rewards our employees for their extraordinary dedication with an even greater stake in the company," said McDonald. "John and I have always thought of National Analysts as not just a firm but an institution. It's fitting that the staff share this stewardship as the firm approaches its century mark."

With roots that trace back to 1911, National Analysts is on record as the world's oldest market research organization, having been created as the market research department of Curtis Publishing Company, parent to some of the best-known American newspapers and periodicals of the last century. National Analysts was spun off as an independent survey research organization in 1943, and acquired by Booz · Allen & Hamilton, the management and technology consulting firm, in 1970.

In 1992, National Analysts once again emerged as an independent firm under the joint ownership of two former Booz · Allen partners, John Berrigan and Susan Schwartz McDonald. From its headquarters in downtown Philadelphia, the firm's staff of 73 provides worldwide strategic research and consulting support to industry sectors that include pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, information technology, transport, financial services, and consumer products.

Employee ownership at National Analysts bucks the recent trend toward large-scale consolidation in the marketing services industry, which has produced a smaller number of publicly-owned "mega-companies," many of them based outside the US. "We believe strongly that a small independent consultancy that controls its own destiny is best-equipped to provide the exceptional caliber of marketing support our clients expect of us," explained McDonald. "This consideration, along with the desire to reward employees for the key role they play, led us to choose the ESOP course. We're excited that the company is being `reborn' once again - but in a way that will enable us to continue to fulfill the same historic mission, potentially at an even higher level."

With this change, National Analysts becomes one of a handful of firms in the country to combine woman-ownership with an ESOP structure.

For more information, contact: Re Golden, Chief Operating Officer, at 215-496-6875, rgolden@nationalanalysts.com or Susan Schwartz McDonald at 215-496-6850, smcdonald@nationalanalysts.com.