News Release - Bently Nevada Launches Local Elfun Chapter

Bently Nevada Launches Local Elfun Chapter

For more information:
Steve Sabin
Marketing Communications Manager
Bently Nevada
1631 Bently Parkway South
Minden, Nevada, USA 89423
Phone: 775-215-2291
Fax: 775-215-2864
E-mail: steve.sabin@bently.com

MINDEN, 14 JUNE 2002 - Bently Nevada, a GE Power Systems company, announced today that it has established the Sierra Nevada Chapter of Elfun. Elfun, a worldwide organization of GE employees and retirees, focuses on volunteerism and outreach to help the communities in which GE has offices. The formation of the Sierra Nevada Chapter of Elfun was approved by the global Elfun Board of Directors on 3 June.

Katie Marquardt, Chairman of the Sierra Nevada Elfun Chapter, says Minden proved to be an ideal chapter location because of the large concentration of GE employees, strength of the Carson Valley community, lack of an existing chapter nearby, and enthusiastic GE leadership support for the program. "This is a great organization," says Marquardt, "and all the members we’ve met from existing chapters have been extremely supportive in the creation of The Sierra Nevada Chapter. Our Bently Nevada leadership team has also been very strong in their support for Elfun."

Brian Palmer, Bently Nevada President and Elfun member, helped provide the initial impetus for formation of a local chapter. "I’ve worked for GE at numerous locations around the world," says Palmer, "and a common thread is a strong ethic to give back to the communities in which we operate. Elfun does that. Almost immediately after GE acquired Bently Nevada, we identified this as a great opportunity and high priority for the Bently Nevada team. They’ve exceeded my expectations in every respect - by not only getting a local Elfun chapter formed so quickly, but by already coordinating our first community event."

The first Elfun event, a tree-planting and beautification effort at Gardnerville’s Heritage Park, is being planned for next month. Marquardt says that many employees are already signed up to participate, and she anticipates that once the Company has a chance to see the work done by Elfun members - and how much fun they have doing it - more employees will seek to join the chapter. Concludes Marquardt, "Great community, great employees, strong leadership support - yeah, we're off to a good start."

Elfun (www.elfun.org) which stands for "Electrical Funds," was started in 1928 as an elite organization for GE leaders, focused primarily on financial investments and fraternal activities. In the 1980’s, Elfun transformed itself into an organization open to all GE employees and focused on bettering the communities in which GE has offices. Today, Elfun has over 120 chapters and 45,000 members worldwide, and engages in projects such as student mentoring, blood drives, park and school cleanups, playground construction, food banks, Habitat for Humanity, and other programs that benefit the community. Each chapter is responsible to identify and support the local projects they want to promote. While a product of GE culture, the Elfun organization is driven and supported entirely by employees, and is simply a support structure for employees who want to contribute to their communities.

Bently Nevada (www.bently.com), The Plant Asset Management Company^SM, is a leading global supplier of products and services for assessing and ensuring the mechanical and thermodynamic health of industrial equipment. The company maintains nearly 100 offices in the principal industrial centers of 43 countries around the globe, serving a broad base of more than 25,000 customers in the power generation, petrochemical, and numerous other industries. Bently Nevada is a GE Power Systems business (www.gepower.com).

GE Power Systems (www.gepower.com) is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services, and management systems, with 2001 revenues exceeding $20 billion. Based in Atlanta, GA, GE Power Systems provides equipment, services and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, distributed power, and energy rental industries.

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