Wendle Joins ITDA Board

Chicago, IL – January 16, 2006 – The Illinois Technology Development Alliance (ITDA), a public-private nonprofit that assists high growth technology companies, has named Bill Wendle, Manager of Business Services Department, Technology & Solutions Division of Caterpillar Inc., to its Board of Directors.

The Illinois Technology Development Alliance provides consulting services to high growth technology companies in raising capital, business development, and federal technology development financing. Mr. Wendle joins eleven prominent leaders from business, finance and government who comprise ITDA's Board of Directors.

"It is clear that Bill's extensive management and new product development experience will be invaluable to the ITDA," said Tom Thornton, President of the ITDA. "Bill has fostered a culture of innovation within Caterpillar that has kept it the leader in its industry. He has supported the growth of technology ventures realizing their market potential, and we will look to his tenured knowledge as we continue to foster the development of high growth potential technology ventures."

Bill joined Caterpillar in 1973, and his current responsibilities include Accounting, Contract Administration, Technology Commercialization, 6 Sigma and Corporate Facilities Management. He has held positions in product source planning, joint ventures, procurement and logistics, before joining the company's corporate R&D center 1995.

He is a director of ITDA client company Akoya, which is a company spun-out by Caterpillar in 2004 to commercialize a feature-based cost analytics tool.