PROTOCALLS ELLEN KLEINKNECHT IS FINALIST FOR BALTIMORES 2001 ERNST & YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR® AWARD ** Innovative Firm Sells Cutting Edge Products To Businesses: Success Spawns Maryland Jobs

EOY finalist built a national company with 350 employees and over a dozen Fortune 500 clients with whom it shares the risk of selling high tech products. One of the most successful business-to-business telephone marketing firms, Protocall emerged resilient after becoming a specialist in outbound sales.

Laurel, Maryland, June 1, 2001 -- Protocall Communications today announced that Ellen Kleinknecht, general manager, was named a finalist for the prestigious Baltimore 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® (EOY) award.

Every entrepreneur who starts his or her own business dreams of winning the EOY award," said Kleinknecht. Being a finalist says the owners, employees, and business model are serving clients and the community, while promoting the benefits of outsourcing to our industry."

EOY finalists are selected by a panel of independent judges based upon personal achievement, creativity and innovation, management team, and social responsibility. Finalists will be honored, and the award recipients announced, on Tuesday, June 26, 2001, at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore.

Protocall's success is largely attributable to an employee-centered culture -- confident in its capacity to profit while assuming the risk of selling cutting-edge products. To meet the 2001 demand for its services, Protocall expects to exceed by 100 percent its pace of creating 125 jobs annually.

Outbound telebusiness is one of the world's most challenging industries," said Walter Townsend, president and CEO, Baltimore Washington Chamber of Commerce. Ellens entrepreneurial edge is in the unusual determination, grace, and empathy she infuses throughout the organization, from customer relations to motivating employee sales performance."

Protocall does one thing: outbound business-to-business sales of cable, Internet, and telecommunications products. Since 1998, Ellen and her fellow owners, Scott Kleinknecht and Deborah Liebel, have transformed the company from a generalist with a half dozen discrete services to an industry-leading specialist that consistently exceeds clients sales projections.

Ellen holds a BA in business from the University of Texas and an MBA from George Washington University. Before Protocall was launched, she founded her own company, National Phone Link, and was a marketing manager at Control Data Corporation (CDC). Ellen is the mother of Tim, Katie, and Jack Kleinknecht.

Protocall is the recipient of every major telebusiness award and the Maryland Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative Award (MassMutual and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce). Recently, Ellen authored Cable Modem Sales: Trial, Error and Success" (CTAM Magazine, Spring 2001).