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Wells Fargo and the National Association of Women Business Owners(R) Recognize Three Women-Owned Businesses With National Award

Continuing Demand for Capital Helps Wells Fargo Surge Past $25 Billion in Lending to Women Business Owners Nationwide.

SB Informer
Friday, June 2, 2006; 07:59 AM

SAN FRANCISCO - In celebration of the success and innovation of women business owners nationwide, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC - News) and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO®) today presented the fifth-annual NAWBO/Wells Fargo Trailblazer Awards at NAWBO's 2006 Women's Business Conference in San Francisco.

Three recipients were selected from a nationwide pool of applicants based on their companies' business performance, innovation, growth, and personal service to the community. Together with NAWBO, Joy Ott, regional president for Wells Fargo Bank in Montana and national spokesperson for its Women's Business Services program, presented three $5,000 cash awards and the Trailblazer Awards to:

-- Florida-based Accredited Surety and Casualty -- Deborah and Sharon Jallad
-- Chicago-based BrightStar Health Care -- Shelly Sun
-- New Jersey-based Emergency Preparedness Partnerships -- Eileen Unger

Wells Fargo launched the Women's Business Services program in September 1995 to build relationships with women business owners and increase access to capital and financial services. Since then Wells Fargo has lent more than $25 billion nationwide to women business owners. With an average loan less than $40,000, Wells Fargo has extended more than 600,000 loans to women business owners nationwide over the last ten years.

"Talent and passion are at the core of all women business owners and this award recognizes and honors those attributes," said Ott. "It is a privilege for us to celebrate the women who personify the entrepreneurial spirit. This year's winners are truly inspirational -- we applaud and thank them for continuing to inspire the entrepreneur in all of us."

Accredited Surety and Casualty Company, Inc. -- a niche insurance company that primarily underwrites bail bonds -- has been the Jallad family business since 1975. After working for her father since she was 13 years old, Deborah Jallad was eventually named executive vice president and, in 1993, Deborah and her sister Sharon took over the business. Accredited Surety and Casualty Company Inc. specializes in writing bail bonds and non-contract commercial surety and fidelity bonds. Lobbying for higher bail agent standards, stricter rules governing the release of domestic violence offenders, and increased bail requirements, the company works to reduce the likelihood that criminal offenders will flee. Among a small group of women who own a privately held property and causality insurance company, Deborah and Sharon break industry stereotypes and are respected leaders in the marketplace. Since they took over the business, revenues have increased over 270 percent and the company is now licensed in all 50 states.

BrightStar Healthcare Inc. provides affordable in-home care and staffing services for the elderly. After struggling to find adequate care for her own grandfather, Shelly Sun established BrightStar in 2002 to provide the highest level of services and resources for individuals caring for friends and family members. In August 2005, BrightStar launched its franchising efforts and continues offering low start-up costs, extensive support, proprietary technology, and financial analysis. Shelly Sun was recently named The Women's Business Development Center "Entrepreneur of the Year."

After realizing the growing need for companies to have concrete emergency-ready plans in place, Eileen Unger started Emergency Preparedness Partnerships in January 2001. Nine months later, in the wake of September 11, the need for companies' emergency preparedness took on increased importance. The company works with utility companies, hospitals and a variety of businesses to ensure they have plans and standard operating procedures in place that prepare them for the unexpected. Emergency Preparedness Partnerships offers a wide array of services that address the needs of both large and small companies.

"These unique businesses reinforce the innovation and spirit we see so much of in women entrepreneurs," said Gayle Watson, NAWBO's president and president of Performance Solutions in Dallas, Texas. "We are honored, along with our partner, Wells Fargo to recognize these women and we congratulate them on being true trailblazers."

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $492 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance to more than 23 million customers from more than 6,200 stores and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the only bank in the United States to receive the highest possible credit rating, "Aaa," from Moody's Investors Service.

Providing financial products and services to more than one million businesses with annual sales up to $20 million in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, Wells Fargo is the #1 lender to small businesses in the United States in total dollar volume according to the most recent CRA data (2004).

The second largest national SBA lender in dollars, Wells Fargo is an SBA Preferred Lender in 30 states and the District of Columbia, and originated 4,165 loans for $579 million in 2005. Its diverse business services programs provide outreach and education to women, African American, Latino, and Asian business owners about financial services. Since 1995, Wells Fargo has loaned more than $31 billion to women and diverse business owners. For more information, please visit us at www.wellsfarog.com/biz.

About NAWBO

Founded in 1975, NAWBO propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide. Thirty years later, NAWBO is still the only organization that solely represents the interest of women entrepreneurs in all industries. The organization's mission is to strengthen the wealth-creating capacity of its members and promote economic development; to create innovative and effective change in the business culture; to build strategic alliances, coalitions and affiliations; and to transform public policy and influence opinion makers. Visit www.nawbo.org for more information.

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