a la mode’s Continued Growth Fuels Management Evolution

Scott Kinnaird to lead daily operations as CEO; David Biggers, company founder, to guide strategic initiatives as Chairman

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — a la mode, inc. revealed today an expansion of its management structure to capitalize on rapid growth in its new and existing markets. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this month, a la mode develops multi-market real estate software and online services, with best-in-class tools relied upon by hundreds of thousands of real estate appraisers, mortgage loan officers, and real estate agents.

As a result of a la mode's growth, company founder and former CEO, David Biggers, announced the promotion of Scott Kinnaird to the position of the company's new CEO. Kinnaird was most recently overseeing business development as the company's Chief Strategy Officer.

Biggers "bootstrapped" the company as a college student in 1985, and remains the sole shareholder. He is retaining the role of Chairman and will focus his efforts on the broader issues of new product, market, and strategic project development.

"When we hit the point of 250 employees and major positions in three huge markets, with no end in sight to the growth, it became clear that the roles I played as both CEO and Chairman needed to be split into tactical and strategic components," Biggers commented. "With Scott in the CEO position, I can pick strategic projects and drive them from concept to maturity rapidly, without being constrained by the day-to-day managerial needs of a dynamic place like this. I get to use my entrepreneurial background as a founder to essentially operate internal startups within a superior resource pool. Simultaneously, it takes advantage of Scott's skills in running an organization this size on a day in, day out basis. He's much better at that than I am, so it's a perfect one-two punch."

In another officer-level expansion, Sean Shiplet, previously the company's EVP of Sales and Customer Support, will fill the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer, with the company's sales, customer support, business development, marketing and product management functions all reporting directly to him.

In addition to Kinnaird and Shiplet moving into new officer-level positions, multiple new EVP and VP positions were created as the company evolves into more distinct market divisions.

"This simply reflects the fact that comparatively small groups within our company have been, on an almost informal basis, deftly outmaneuvering long-established but complacent players in the agent and mortgage markets," Kinnaird commented. "We're simply giving them more autonomy and authority, and allowing them to do even more of what they've been doing so well."

In addition to expanded personnel roles, the company's revenue growth and additional markets have driven the opening of multiple new offices. A regional sales and training center was recently opened in Orlando, including a 50-seat state-of-the-art classroom complete with a suite of distance learning technology tools, and is already operating nearly at capacity. The company's Salt Lake City development office underwent expansion as well, with construction of a much larger new facility completed the first week of July. Both locations also serve as generator-backed hot sites for the company's headquarters operations in the event of a disaster. The company also expanded its legal affairs office in Washington, DC, staffed by in-house counsel and lobbyists. The office addresses economic and policy issues of interest to a la mode's large user base, ranging from copyright protection of appraiser and agent data to "bubble-related" topics such as valuation processes and regulation.

Regardless of the complexities inherent in growth, however, the company is keeping its focus fixed on the central issues of superior products and customer satisfaction.

According to Shiplet, "Year to date revenue growth is 45% over the same period of 2004, so usage of our desktop software and online services is skyrocketing. But with our investments of millions into even more staff and hundreds of additional servers, we're keeping ahead of demand while continuing to expand our product line. This quarter we'll not only be shipping the fifth generation of WinTOTAL, our flagship appraisal product, but we'll also be releasing significant new agent and mortgage solutions. We're very excited about the prospects for the remainder of 2005 and into 2006."

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About a la mode

Founded in 1985, a la mode develops desktop tools, mobile tools, web sites for real estate professionals, mortgage brokers, and appraisers. a la mode's flagship product, WinTOTAL form-filling software for appraisers leads the residential appraisal industry. a la mode's Mercury Network, a vendor management platform for lenders, provides the most experienced local appraisers in an HVCC-compliant, easy-to-use loan ordering and management application. a la mode's mission-critical products are used by hundreds of thousands of appraisers, agents, inspectors, and lending professionals to complete the nation's real estate transactions. The company's state-of-the-art offices are located in Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, and Washington, DC. To learn more, visit www.alamode.com.