February 18, 2003 (Schaumburg, IL) - Robert Camastro, President of Virtual-Agent Services, a provider of high quality contact center solutions, has been named to Fast Company Magazine’s debut list of “Fast 50” Champions of Innovation - individuals whose achievements helped change their respective industry or society. The Fast 50 will appear in the March issue of Fast Company, the nation’s leading magazine for management innovators, appearing on newsstands February 18.

“The Fast 50 had the vision to see ways of improving our world - and the persistence to accomplish their goals,” said Fast Company co-founder and co-editor William C. Taylor. “At a time when our nation is rediscovering what it means to be a hero, the Fast 50 recognizes 50 individuals who are each courageous in their own way.”

Selected by Fast Company editors, the Fast 50 includes executives, activists, marketers, designers, scientists, engineers and other leaders from a variety of backgrounds. Some are solo entrepreneurs and researchers. Others come from wide range of organizations - from large corporations to non-profit groups.

Camastro founded Virtual-Agent Services (VAS) in 1999. VAS has pioneered and perfected the Distributed Workforce Concept, which has profoundly changed the efficiency and quality model for the contact center industry. With the traditional contact center approach, practitioners tend to consolidate work into large centers to achieve economies of scale. This approach creates great demands on labor, and many centers fail because they cannot find enough quality workers willing to commute to their location. The Distributed Workforce Concept reverses this model by locating a group of small centers, each in areas with untapped and untargeted labor markets, and networking them together with a common telephone system. The common telephone network allows the collective group of centers to achieve single office economies of scale, and the small center size and unique locations ensure an available and capable work force. The concept has solved the industry’s labor dilemma by bringing work to the people, rather than requiring people to travel long distances to obtain work. The concept also lends itself to securing a readily available pool of skilled labor that can be quickly activated during peak periods. This concept has proven so effective that VAS’ customers voted the business concept Gold Best-in-Class in the 2002 4th Annual Users Choice Awards sponsored by RealMarket.

“The Fast 50 award really belongs to the entire VAS team,” said Camastro. “We have a very successful business model but our real award is being able to bring work to people that would not otherwise have quality job opportunities.” Being recognized as one of the Fast 50 winners places a spotlight on the idea that one person with a clear vision can be a change agent for an ever-widening circle of people. Given the accomplishment of VAS, perhaps others will be motivated to act on their great ideas.”

Virtual-Agent Services is a unique provider of contact center solutions for today’s demanding customer care industry. Focusing on a high quality workforce and ideal locations throughout New Brunswick, Canada, VAS utilizes the award-winning Distributed Workforce Concept to offer clients superior service and value. Located in the Chicago area and servicing a wide range of industries including financial, retail sales, travel and hospitality, and utility services, VAS provides a variety of support options that include inbound sales and customer service, customer account maintenance, credit management, and travel reservations.

Founded in 1996 and published monthly, Boston-based Fast Company (www.fastcompany.com) covers ideas, trends and individuals devoted to innovation and managing change in today’s economy. The magazine is owned by Gruner + Jahr USA, one of the top-ranked magazine publishers in the U.S., reaching one of the largest readerships in America. Gruner + Jahr USA also publishes Inc, Child, Family Circle, Fitness, Parents and YM.