Press Release: CRO June 18 San Francisco Conference to Tap Salesforce.com Exec as CEO of the Year

Marc Benioff to deliver keynote and accept top honor 

EDISON, N.J. -- Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com, one of America's fastest-growing technology companis, and visionary behind the "1/1/1 Model" in which companies give 1% of profits, 1% of equity and 1% of employee time back to its communities, has won CRO Magazine's 2008 CEO of the Year (Middle Market) Award, and will accept the Award at the CRO Conference June 18 at the Marine's Memorial Club in San Francisco.

Benioff, whose 8-year-old San Francisco-based company recently announced quarterly results that show revenues nearing $1 billion annually, authored "The Business of Changing the World" in 2006 in which 20 great business leaders show how to go beyond checkbook philanthropy to make a true difference. For his thought and action leadership in corporate responsibility and financial performance, CRO Magazine recognizes Benioff's achievements with this Award. Benioff's Keynote address at the June 18 conference will cover key elements of the trend-setting company’s extraordinary results.

"As 2008 CEO of the Year, salesforce.com's Marc Benioff represents the ideal combination of leadership in corporate responsibility and financial performance," says CRO Magazine Publisher Jay Whitehead. "He has consistently demonstrated that a company can deliver stellar results to Wall Street while remaining committed to a 1/1/1 Model program to benefit the communities in which it resides. He is a great example for other CEOs, and as such deserves CRO Magazine's highest honor." The 2008 CEO of the Year (Middle Market, or companies with $100 million-$1 billion in revenues) is the only one of nine 2008 CEO of the Year Awards that will be presented by CRO Magazine at the CRO Conference in San Francisco June 18. The remaining eight will be announced and presented Sept. 10 at the CRO Conference in Chicago: Large Market (>$1 billion), Small Market (<$100 million), Service Provider/Compliance, Service Provider/Sustainability, Service Provider/CSR, Corporate Foundation, NGO (non-corporate), Social Entrepreneur.

The June 18 CRO Conference in San Francisco features numerous other CR leaders. Among them, Amit Chatterjee, Managing Director of Khloro Capital Management will deliver a keynote entitled, “The $100 Billion VC-Backed High Tech Sustainability Revolution.” Former White House Council on Environmental Quality and Asst. Secretary of the US Army Ray Clark will discuss what the new White House will bring in Environment and Corporate Responsibility. Also featured are high tech CR leaders such as Dave Stangis from Intel, Tod Arbogast from Dell, and Marcy Lynn from Sun Microsystems, covering the lessons that high tech has for other industries. This session is just one of 10 headline-grabbing sessions at the CRO Conference at San Francisco's Marine's Memorial Club on June 18. Registration is limited to 220, and conference organizers urge attendees to register online soon at www.thecro.com/conferences.

For more details about the CRO Conference program, visit www.thecro.com/conferences, and for CRO's 100 Best Corporate Citizens 2008, the methodology and CRO magazine, visit http://www.thecro.com.

About The CRO and Crossing Media LLC

CRO is the only membership media platform for Corporate Responsibility practitioners, and the professional service providers and non-profit influencers that serve them. The CRO publishes the 20,000-subscriber 'CRO' Magazine and 200,000+ subscriber TheCRO.com, bi-weekly e-newsletters, webinars, and produces the four-time-annual CRO Conferences. With over 100 members including leading companies Sara Lee, Amtrak, IBM, Citigroup, Chubb Insurance, Mattel, Intel, Dell, Pepsi, Home Depot, Starbucks, Avon, Gap, State Street, Xerox, leading providers such as Deloitte, Baker & McKenzie, SAP, Hogan & Hartson, Edelman, Manning Selvage & Lee, Grant Thornton, Golin Harris, Ketchum, Cone, LRN, Integrity Interactive, and non-profits including Stanford University, Boston College, UCLA, and Harvard. Corporate membership information can be found at TheCRO.com, or by calling 732-476-6160. The CRO is a Crossing Media LLC media platform. More information at www.CrossingMedia.com.

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