May 18, 2005

David Flaschen Joins Castanea Partners

Information and Business Services Veteran to Focus on New Opportunities

Castanea Partners announced today that David Flaschen has joined the firm as Operating Partner. David has over 20 years of executive experience in the marketing and business services industries and as such, will be focusing on opportunities in those areas.

Prior to joining Castanea, David was a Managing Director at Flagship Ventures, having joined the firm in 2000. Prior to Flagship, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Thomson Financial, a billion dollar information services company focused on the financial industry.

Rob Smith, Managing Partner of Castanea, said, “The level of operating experience that our team brings to the table is unique. We believe that David’s extraordinary experience with marketing and business services companies will be a valuable resource for portfolio management and also significantly add to our deal sourcing and due diligence process in these key markets.”

“We’re excited to have someone of David’s caliber join us,” adds Brian Knez, also a Managing Partner of Castanea. “David’s management background and skill set fits well with our interest in the marketing and business services sectors.”

Previous to Thomson Financial, David served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Donnelley Marketing Inc., a venture capital-backed consumer information services firm that was acquired by First Data Corporation. Prior to 1995, he was with Dun and Bradstreet for 10 years including serving as the President of AC Nielsen, North America, a company that provides market research, information and analysis to the consumer products and services industries.

David serves as a Director and Audit Committee Chair of Paychex, Inc. as well as several privately held companies including Affinity Express, and Maptuit. Previously, David has been an investor, board director and/or advisor to Black Duck, BuyerZone, and e-Dialog and was a founding investor in the management buyout of Survey Sampling, Inc., that was recently acquired by Providence Equity Partners. He also served as Director of TripAdvisor that was acquired by Interactive Corp.

About Castanea

Castanea is a private equity firm that works in partnership with founders and management teams of innovative passion brands to grow their businesses through a combination of capital investment and operating expertise. We are focused on select consumer verticals including beauty, food and beverage, multi-unit services, and enthusiast lifestyle. We typically invest between $15 to $150 million of equity in minority or majority transactions. Our team of talented operating executives offers critical expertise in key verticals and functional areas, and provides our partner companies with strategic and tactical support. Castanea has more than $1 billion in assets under management and is currently investing from a $735 million fourth fund. For more information about Castanea Partners read our story.

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