THE SELECT FAMILY OF STAFFING COMPANIES' FRED PACHÓN AWARDED RISK MANAGER OF THE YEAR® FROM BUSINESS INSURANCE, RIMS

SANTA BARBARA, CA – April 20, 2009 – Fred Pachón, VP of Risk Management and Insurance for The Select Family of Staffing Companies, has been named the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. (RIMS) and Business Insurance (BI) magazine's Risk Manager of the Year® for 2009.

The annual Risk Manager of the Year® award recognizes excellence in risk management and is widely considered to be the highest honor in the field of managing and insuring risk. BI created the Risk Manager of the Year® award in 1977; no other staffing agency has earned the award in its 32-year history. 

Honorees are selected by an independent panel of judges, representing past winners, risk management educators, commercial insurance industry executives, as well as the immediate past president of RIMS. The Risk Manager of the Year® award is presented jointly by BI and RIMS during the RIMS annual conference and exhibition, which this year is held in Orlando April 19-23. Pachón will be given his award on Tuesday by former AIG CEO and Chairman Maurice Greenberg.

Honorees are selected by an independent panel of judges, representing past winners, risk management educators, commercial insurance industry executives, as well as the immediate past president of the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. (RIMS). The Risk Manager of the Year® award is presented jointly by BI and RIMS during the RIMS annual conference and exhibition, which this year is held in Orlando April 19-23. Pachón will be given his award on Tuesday by former AIG CEO and Chairman Maurice Greenberg.

"The judges did not have an easy task, reviewing the many nominees with impressive achievements," says BI Editor Regis Coccia. "Fred Pachón was clearly a standout for the work his team is doing at Select. The winner each year is picked based on how well he or she meets 10 criteria, including management skill, creative use of insurance markets, problem solving, and advancing the profession of risk management. Mr. Pachón was recognized as a leader in all these areas, and it’s evident from the results he has helped deliver at Select."

Pachón's being named Risk Manager of the Year® comes on the heels of two other prestigious awards for his achievements: the Risk Innovator Award and the National Underwriter (NU) Award for Excellence in Workers’ Compensation Risk Management – both awarded in Fall 2008.

"These three awards prove what I have known for years," says Steve Sorensen, Chairman and CEO of The Select Family of Staffing Companies. "Our Risk Management program is without peer. Fred has helped make us a world-class organization when it comes to safety and claims control. His efforts have contributed greatly to our business success in recent years. We're fortunate to have him on the team."

Once struggling to survive the high cost of workers’ compensation insurance in a post-9/11 environment, Select has emerged as one of the largest privately held staffing companies in the United States, with annual revenue of $1.6 billion in 2008. Select’s risk management performance, coupled with the company’s sales and aggressive acquisition strategy, has had a direct impact on the financial growth and success of the organization overall.

Pachón joined Select in 2001 as a Workers’ Compensation Consultant whose core responsibility was to analyze Select’s risk assessment reports. Quickly promoted to Corporate Risk-Insurance Manager, he implemented risk and claims management programs that have helped save Select more than $100 million and have lowered the average cost per claim by 75%.These results, as well as Pachón's vigilant management of vendors and consultants and sophisticated dashboard technology to measure claims performance at the branch level, have truly served to set apart Select's risk management program from its peers.

 "I am very proud of the results our comprehensive Risk Management program has achieved," says Pachón. "It is very gratifying that the industry recognizes our efforts as well and that Select can confidently say that we are unmatched – both in the staffing industry, but with regard to risk management and safety as a whole."

About Business Insurance
Business Insurance is an international publication providing weekly news in print and daily online for executives in risk management, employee benefits, and commercial insurance. BI, published by Crain Communications Inc., began publishing in 1967. In addition to the RMOY, BI has an annual Risk Management Honor Roll, which in 2009 includes:
• Raymond J. Alletto, vice president of risk management at United Rentals, Inc. (Irving, TX)
• Lori Jorgensen, senior director of finance/risk management at Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA)
• Gary W. Langsdale, university risk officer at Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA)

About The Select Family of Staffing Companies
Founded in Santa Barbara, California in 1985, The Select Family of Staffing Companies is a top 10 industry leader. The company operates as Select Staffing®, Select Staffing®, Select Truckers PlusSM, Remedy® Intelligent Staffing, RemX® Financial Staffing, RemX® IT Staffing, RemX® OfficeStaff, Westaff®, and a dozen other national brands. Select offers premier workforce management services, including recruiting and screening professional job candidates, payroll and time attendance management, on-site supervision, proactive safety programs, and specialty staffing solutions, to a wide variety of client companies, including manufacturing, industrial, clerical, administrative, accounting, finance, information technology, and professional services.

For more about Fred Pachón and The Select Family’s Risk Management services, please visit the company’s website at www.selectfamily.com.