Dominion to Honor Nine in 17th Annual Strong Men & Women: Excellence in Leadership Educational Series

To: EDUCATION EDITORS

Contact: Daisy Pridgen of Dominion, +1-804-771-6115, orDaisy_Pridgen@dom.com

RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the 17thconsecutive year, nine prominent African Americans selected for theiraccomplishments and leadership will be honored by Dominion throughits Strong Men & Women: Excellence in Leadership educational series.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000831/DLOGO)

This year's recipients will be honored at an awards ceremony at 7p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18 at the Richmond Marriott Hotel.

Strong Men & Women highlights the accomplishments of selectedAfrican- American role models and converts their stories into aneducational series distributed during Black History Month to morethan 12,000 schools across Dominion's natural gas and electricfranchise service areas in Virginia, northeastern North Carolina,Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

"These outstanding individuals all became leaders in their chosenfields through desire and determination," said Thomas F. Farrell II,president and chief executive officer. "Their impressive achievementsdemonstrate excellence in action. We honor them because they areextraordinary role models for our youth."

The 2007 honorees are:

-- Billy K. Cannaday Jr. -- Virginia's first African-American

superintendent of public instruction, Richmond, Va.

-- Paul B. Higginbotham -- first African American on the WisconsinCourt

of Appeals, Madison, Wis.

-- Sheila C. Johnson -- philanthropist, entrepreneur and CEO ofSalamander

Hospitality, The Plains, Va.

-- Charles F. Lovell Jr. -- first African-American president ofthe

Virginia Board of Medicine, Norfolk, Va.

-- Marc H. Morial* -- president and CEO of the National UrbanLeague, New

York

-- Dawn Staley* -- renowned player of the Women's NationalBasketball

Association and all-America at the University of Virginia,

Philadelphia, Pa.

-- Jerry Sue Thornton* -- president of Cuyahoga Community College,

Cleveland, Ohio

-- Blair Underwood -- television and motion picture actor andproducer,

native of Petersburg, Va., Sherman Oaks, Calif.

-- Dwight L. Williams -- first African-American "National YoungEngineer

of the Year" for the National Society of Professional Engineers,

Laurel, Md.

*Attending the Cleveland, Ohio, ceremony Feb 8.

African-American high school students participated in the StrongMen & Women: Excellence in Leadership student essay-writing contest.In September, seniors were invited to write essays about an African-American leader featured in the Strong Men & Women series. Winnersreceive a Dell laptop computer and their schools each receive a$1,000 cash award.

This year's essay winners are:

-- Heaven Berhane -- JEB Stuart High School, Fairfax County, Va.

-- Chelsea Roach -- Southside High School, Chocowinity, N.C.

-- Yolanda Sumner -- Richmond Technical Center, Va.

-- Jillian Walton -- Governor's School for the Arts, Norfolk, Va.

Information about Strong Men & Women can be found on the Internetat http://www.dom.com, keyword "strong."

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, witha portfolio of about 28,000 megawatts of generation, about 6.6trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves and7,800 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline. Dominion alsooperates one of the nation's largest underground natural gas storagesystems and serves retail energy customers in 11 states. For moreinformation about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.

Editor's note: Biographies of the honorees will be available atthe awards ceremony. Video b-roll, sound bites and media kits will beon hand for television stations; a downloadable image of thehonorees' portrait is available on http://www.dom.com; andphotographs will be available after Jan. 23.

SOURCE Dominion