Cindy O`Connell Establishes Consultancy to Promote Sustainable Energy, Higher Education

Accomplished Communicator Aims to Pursue Her Passions
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--(Business Wire)--
Veteran Florida communicator Cindy O`Connell announced today that she has
created a new consultancy to focus on two of her passions - sustainable
environmental initiatives and higher education.

An accomplished communications professional, O`Connell has served as Senior Vice
President/General Manager for Hill & Knowlton`s Tallahassee office, which she
opened for the firm five years ago. Previously, she was general manager for
Weber Shandwick Tallahassee. Among her career highlights, O`Connell served on
the executive start-up team for the Florida Lottery, launched the first
statewide ATM network in Florida, and promoted Florida in three Olympic Games:
the 1996 Centennial Games in Atlanta, the 1998 Nagano Winter Games in Japan, and
the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

"I have had wonderful experiences and have built a network of relationships that
I cherish," O`Connell said. "It`s exciting to now have an opportunity to apply
my talents and contacts to objectives that I am personally even more passionate
about."

A nine-year member of the Board of Trustees for the University of Florida,
O`Connell is the widow of former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen C.
O`Connell, who served as UF president, 1967-73.

Cindy O`Connell also has led efforts to support and sustain Florida Blue Key,
the University of Florida`s nationally renowned prestigious student leadership
honorary organization. She was instrumental in the development of the Stephen C.
O`Connell Supreme Court Reading Room, a facility at the heart of the newly
expanded Lawton Chiles Information Center at the UF Levin College of Law.

O`Connell is also a graduate of Leadership Florida, and on the boards of Florida
Tax Watch, The Florida Economics Club and the Florida House in D.C., the state`s
embassy in the nation`s capitol started by former First Lady Rhea Chiles.

O`Connell also farms her 200 acre ranch in Leon County, using sustainable
agricultural practices, and is a senior advisor to CCP Energy LLC, a renewable
energy development company with research ties to several national universities,
congressional districts and conservatories. O`Connell is advising CCP Energy
with its Clean Community Partnership and Clean Community Sustainability
Institute Programs, which focus on creating public private partnerships that
foster the growth of green jobs and clean energy development.

While at H&K, O`Connell worked to restore the luster to two private colleges,
Loyola in New Orleans and Dillard Universities` after their campuses were
ravaged by Hurricane Katrina providing crisis communication and rolling out a
revitalized brand image to strengthen student enrollment numbers.

"I want to personally thank Cindy for her efforts in helping to officially plant
the flag of H&K in Tallahassee and assisting in the ongoing growth of the firm
statewide," Hill & Knowlton General Manager Harry Costello.

For Cindy O'Connell
Michelle Ubben, 850-222-1996

Copyright Business Wire 2009