Bios: Executive Committee

Cathy Baron Tamraz, President and Chief Executive Officer, oversees the company's day-to-day operations, long-term strategic planning, international expansion and global branding. She is headquartered in New York.

She joined Business Wire in San Francisco in 1979 and opened the New York office in 1980. She became head of the New York region in 1987. In 1990 she was named a vice president and appointed to the company's executive committee. In 1994 she was named senior vice president, executive vice president in 1998, chief operating officer in 2000, president in 2003 and CEO in 2005.

Prior to joining Business Wire, Cathy worked in the travel industry in Hawaii. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and education from SUNY at Oneonta and a master's degree in literature from Stony Brook University. She participates in conferences and seminars in the investor relations and public relations industries and has published articles on financial disclosure and new technology. She was the main architect in selling Business Wire to Berkshire Hathaway. Her November 2005 letter to Warren Buffett detailing the synergies between the two firms resulted in the company being acquired on March 1, 2006.

Gregg Castano was named Co-Chief Operating Officer in December 2006. In this role, Castano will exercise responsibility for overall sales strategy and financial analysis.

Castano was most recently Executive Vice President, Global Sales, where he oversaw the expansion of Business Wire into new markets in Europe and Asia, as well as the continued growth of the domestic U.S. market.

Gregg joined the company in 1985 and later held several management positions leading up to his appointment as Senior Vice President, Global Sales in 2001.

Gregg received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Fordham University, Bronx, New York.

Phyllis Dantuono was named Co-Chief Operating Officer in December 2006, and focuses on global operations, legal issues, and editorial policies. She maintains Business Wire's editorial integrity on a company wide basis, and is instrumental in formulating news policies and standards.

Phyllis was previously Executive Vice President, Global Bureaus, where her overall responsibilities extended to the regional management of the New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., offices.

She joined the company in 1986 as an account executive and later held management positions in sales and operations. Prior to joining Business Wire, she held several positions in investor and financial public relations with The Equity Group, New York.

Phyllis earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Communications from St. John's University.

Steve Messick was promoted to Chief Information Officer in 2003. He is responsible for development, procurement and implementation of all Business Wire's internal and external technology systems.

Steve has been an employee of the company since 1991.

Prior to Business Wire, Steve was a senior partner with Alpine Information Systems, San Mateo, California, where Business Wire was his primary account. Messick previously worked as a systems software engineer at Texas Instruments, Austin, Texas.

Steve received a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.

Geff Scott, Chief Financial Officer, is responsible for all financial and tax aspects within the company, including fulfilling the required Sarbanes Oxley reporting to parent Berkshire Hathaway.

Scott joined the company in July, 2007 as CFO.

Prior to Business Wire, Scott, who has more than 20 years in the Accounting industry, was a partner with Marinelli + Scott, Healdsburg, CA. He also was an Internal Audit Manager at Eureka Bank, Foster City, CA and a Supervising Senior Accountant at KPMG, San Francisco.

Scott received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from University of Portland, Portland, Oregon.

Lorry I. Lokey is the founder of Business Wire. From its 1961 start in San Francisco, Lorry guided the company’s growth throughout the United States and around the globe. Business Wire now stands as the preeminent commercial news wire with 30 offices around the world serving investor relations and public relations professionals. The company was sold to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway on March 1, 2006.

Prior to founding Business Wire, Lorry was Western news bureau supervisor at General Electric Co., San Francisco. It was in this position that Lorry foresaw the demand for a wire service to better serve the needs of both the media and public relations communities.

Prior to General Electric, Lorry was a public relations representative at Shell Development Co., Emeryville, California, and before that, an administrator at Western Highway Institute in San Francisco.

Despite the many years on the PR side, Lorry's heart remains strong to journalism, where his career began. Lorry's first job out of college was as at United Press (now UPI), Portland, Oregon, as a wire reporter. He then became a reporter for the Longview (Washington) Daily News. (Prior to these stints, Lorry was a feature editor for Pacific Stars & Stripes, Tokyo, during World War II. And in college, he was editor of The Stanford Daily).

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Lorry received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.