CHIAT'S SEIFERT, WHILE INDICTED, IS PRAISED BY PEERS

NEW YORK -- Shona Seifert, indicted for her alleged role in an overbilling
scandal, is a well-known Madison Avenue figure, leading her agency's
efforts to land the prestigious, $75 million Fidelity Investments account.

Ms. Seifert, 43 years old, is president of the New York office of Omnicom
Group Inc.'s TBWA\Chiat\Day, which she joined two years ago. Ms. Seifert,
applauded for her ability to woo desirable clients, was brought aboard in
early 2002 from rival Ogilvy & Mather, a unit of WPP Group PLC. She served
there as managing director of client services at the New York office.

On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Ms. Seifert and Thomas Early, the
48-year-old former chief financial officer of Ogilvy & Mather's New York
office. The indictment alleged that the duo, with the help of unidentified
co-conspirators, defrauded the U.S. government by "falsely and fraudulently
inflating the labor costs" while working at Ogilvy on a lucrative account
for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Mr. Early resigned Wednesday.

Both executives entered pleas of not guilty and were released after each
agreed to sign a $500,000 bond and pledge $25,000 in cash or collateral.

Now, marketing consultants wonder how effective Ms. Seifert will be at her
job. "It doesn't matter what's real. It just matters what clients think,"
says Linda Fidelman, president and chief executive of Advice & Advisors
Inc., a New York firm that counsels marketers on ad-agency relationships
and has worked for Pfizer Inc., among others.

"If it's going to affect business, and if clients are going to start
pulling their dollars, then she is history," Ms. Fidelman said.

Ms. Seifert said in a written statement that she welcomes "the opportunity
to present evidence of my total innocence."

The British born Ms. Seifert launched her Ogilvy career in 1983 in London.
Later, she worked on several global brands that were expanding throughout
Asia. Her departure from Ogilvy irked some top brass there because of her
important role on the shop's high-profile AT&T Wireless Services Inc.
account, according to an executive close to the company. AT&T Wireless
declined to comment.

A spokesman for TBWA\Chiat\Day said the company has "no comment on the
case, it's an Ogilvy & Mather issue. While at TBWA\Chiat\Day, Shona has
shown the highest professional standards and we are pleased to have her at
the agency."

TBWA\Chiat\Day's New York office long has played second fiddle to the
shop's West Coast operations, which created the "1984" Super Bowl ad for
Apple Computer Inc. The agency already has reached out to several clients
and prospective clients to reassure them during this episode, according to
executives close to the agency.

Ms. Seifert is credited at TBWA\Chiat\Day with helping the agency land the
Nextel Communications Inc. account last May valued at $160 million a year.
While several marketing consultants questioned if Ms. Seifert should remain
in her high-profile job, others were quick to sing her praises. "She is
extremely talented and she knows how to sell the agencies' insights," says
Dick Roth, who heads New York's Roth Associates, a consulting firm.

Some of Madison Avenue's top chiefs, who declined to speak for the record,
have noticed her successes, and several have contemplated hiring her. Bob
Jeffrey, chief executive officer of WPP's J. Walter Thompson, spoke to Ms.
Seifert last year when he was looking for an executive with strong account
skills to run his New York office.

Ms. Seifert, with a bachelor's in business administration from London
University, has cut a wide swath with her career that spans five
continents. She also has considerable experience on the client side of the
business, with stints at global companies such as Nestle SA. Having a
strong client background is a resume line that is now held in high regard
on Madison Avenue. For example, WPP last year tapped Ann Fudge, a former
Kraft Foods Inc. executive, to run Young & Rubicam.