Bryan Colangelo Named Suns President

Posted: October 4, 1999THE PHOENIX SUNS announced the
promotion of Bryan Colangelo to President and General Manager of
the NBA franchise today.

Colangelo, 34, served as executive vice
president and general manager last season and he enters his fifth
year as the team's general manager, 12th overall with the Suns. He
remains responsible for day-to-day business and basketball
operations of the club and is also the alternate governor on the
NBA's Board of Governors. In addition, he serves as President of
Phoenix Arena Sports overseeing the operation of the Phoenix
Mercury of the WNBA and the Arena Football League Arizona Rattlers.

"Bryan has earned this promotion based on his track record,"
said Jerry Colangelo, Suns Chairman, CEO and Managing General
Partner said. "He has earned the respect of basketball people
throughout the NBA since he joined the organization 11 years ago.
It also probably helped he grew up with the business as a young
person."

During his time as general manager, Colangelo made his mark in
the NBA, bringing some of the more notable players in the NBA to
the Suns - including Jason
Kidd
, Clifford
Robinson
, Antonio
McDyess
, Tom
Gugliotta
and most recently Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway - through
various trades and free agent moves. Since Colangelo was named
general manager, the Suns have a 164-132 (.554) record. In the same
time, the team qualified for the playoffs in 11-straight seasons -
the fourth-longest active streak in the NBA.

Colangelo, the youngest team president in the NBA and
second-youngest general manager behind Philadelphia's Billy King,
began working for the team with the 1988-89 season in a scouting
capacity. Since that time he held the positions of assistant
director of player personnel, vice president/assistant general
manager and vice president/administration and general manager. He
has also served seven years as tournament director for the NIKE
Desert Classic, an annual college All-Star basketball tournament
held during April in the Phoenix area.

A 1983 graduate of Central High in Phoenix, Colangelo remains an
active community leader. He serves on the board of directors of the
Arizona Sports Council (Grand Canyon State Games), Boys & Girls
Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix, Phoenix Suns Charities, Phoenix Art
Museum and Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, and he is the co-chair of
the Black Family and Child Services of Arizona Annual Dinner. A
member of the executive committee of the Greater Phoenix Economic
Council, he was presented with the 1997 Unsung Hero Award from the
Downtown Phoenix Partnership. In the most recent rankings of Valley
business leaders in a poll conducted by The Phoenix Business
Journal, Colangelo was named the "most influential" business leader
under the age of 40.

A 1987 graduate of Cornell University with a bachelor's of
science degree in business management and applied economics,
Colangelo and his wife Barbara are the proud parents of one son,
Mattia.

Jerry Colangelo now holds the title of Chairman, CEO and
Managing General Partner, the same title he maintains with the
Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. Colangelo has been
President and CEO of the Suns since October 14, 1987 when he
purchased the Suns.

"We will continue to operate and manage this franchise in the
same fashion we have over the years," Jerry Colangelo said.
"Decisions are made on a collective basis, which has proven to be a
strong reflection of the success of this organization."

In addition, Jim Pitman has been promoted to the position of
Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration after
serving last season as Senior Vice President of Finance and
Administration.

In his role, Pitman oversees all accounting, finance, legal,
management information systems, and insurance aspects of the
organization. The Suns' NBA finance chief also assists with salary
cap management and supervises the other business operations of the
Suns, such as the Phoenix Suns Athletic Club, Downtown Digital Post
(in-house production company) and Team Shops (retail merchandising
stores).

Pitman also serves as treasurer of Phoenix Suns Charities and is
a board member of the Orpheum Theater Foundation and the America
West Airlines Education Foundation.

Coming to the Suns in 1992 as assistant controller, he moved up
to corporate controller and vice president of finance before his
most recent promotion. Prior to the Suns, he spent nearly five
years in the audit division of the Phoenix office of Arthur
Andersen with client responsibility in the professional sports,
hospitality, and wholesale distribution industries.

A native of Rio, Illinois, Pitman is a 1987 graduate of the
University of Illinois where he earned a degree in accounting. He
and his wife Ronda have two children, Amy and Kyle.