FORMER DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PRESIDENT FERNANDEZ-REYNA
JOINS ontheFRONTIER ADVISORY BOARD

Visionary Leader and Innovative Consulting Firm Promote Competitive Advantage in Emerging Markets Through Strategic Business Services and Internet-Based Resources

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Jan. 30, 2001) - ontheFRONTIER, the world's leading business strategy provider to firms, industries, and governments in emerging markets, today announced that Leonel Fernandez-Reyna, former president of the Dominican Republic, will join the company. President Fernandez brings visionary leadership and experience working with business and government leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean's developing economies. He will also actively consult with ontheFRONTIER, a Monitor Group spinout that combines leading-edge advisory relationships with web-based strategy software to assist a broad audience of business, government and international leaders in making their most important business decisions.

Joining ontheFRONTIER as an advisor and consultant, President Fernandez lends his belief and leadership in leveraging the Internet to disseminate information and instruction for economic development. He joins an esteemed group of academic luminaries and business leaders in economic development serving on ontheFRONTIER's advisory board, including: current and former Harvard Business School professors Michael Porter, Paul Gompers, and Bruce Chew; Brian Atwood, Vice-President of Citizens Energy and former head of the United States Agency for International Development; Craig Enenstein, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Liberty Digital; and Tony Tjan, founder of Zefer Consulting.

"I have always sought to champion the ideas and initiatives that foster education and economic development," said President Fernandez during his visit this week to the United States. "My work with ontheFRONTIER is part of this continuing endeavor."

Recently named Trade Leader of the Year 2000 by Latin Trade magazine, Leonel Fernandez served as the President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000. Under his leadership, the Dominican Republic achieved the best four-year economic growth rate of any country in Latin American and the Caribbean. Given President Fernandez's success, his involvement with ontheFRONTIER signals an important endorsement from a major policy practitioner and influential thought-leader in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"President Fernandez brings to ontheFRONTIER a life-long dedication to causes that serve the common good," said Michael Fairbanks, CEO and co-founder of ontheFRONTIER, Inc. "His leadership and expertise will be valuable assets to our organization and our customers - the firms, industries, and governments in emerging markets working to achieve economic growth and competitive advantage."

Facing pressures of globalization and privatization, many companies in the world's developing economies need more than free markets and financial capital to become competitive. In such an economic environment, these entrepreneurs and leaders seek the strategic firm-level know-how and resources they need to overcome their challenges. The Internet provides a network to disseminate the ideas and tools that emerging market entrepreneurs need. "When leveraged effectively, the Internet becomes a digital bridge rather than a digital divide," Fairbanks added.

With a forthcoming innovative Web-based software platform, ontheFRONTIER delivers leading-edge strategic business practices and resources customized to the individual needs of firms, industries, and governments in emerging markets. The ontheFRONTIER platform will link users with a global network of strategy thinkers, peers, advisors, partners and customers. ontheFRONTIER continues to offer leading-edge strategic advice to businesses, governments and industry associations in emerging markets through seminars and on-the-ground projects, while concurrently offering strategic advice directly to managers through its web-based strategy software. "Finally, the advantages previously available to only the largest companies are accessible to companies of all sizes," said Fairbanks.

About ontheFRONTIER
ontheFRONTIER is the strategic business partner for companies in emerging markets who are serious about building real competitive advantage with the right customers. Formerly the Monitor Country Competitiveness (MCC) group, ontheFRONTIER is the product of a successful spinout from the Monitor Group, headquartered in Cambridge, MA. The Monitor Group is a major shareholder and knowledge partner, along with venture capital investment firm, Hummer Winblad. Over the past decade, the leaders of MCC have been the strategic advisors of choice in emerging markets for industry groups, governments and international organizations striving to build international competitiveness. Now, the richness of MCC's vast experience combined with the reach of the Internet make ontheFRONTIER the real-time strategic advisor and business partner to companies around the world.

For more information, email information@onthefrontier.com.