Bell Atlantic Names Dennis Bone State President

Bell Atlantic Names Dennis Bone State President

Assumes Overall Responsibility for New Jersey; Replaces Bill Freeman, Who Becomes Public Communications Group President

June 30, 2000

NEWARK, N.J. - Bell Atlantic, soon to complete its merger with GTE Corp. and become Verizon Communications, has selected Dennis M. Bone to become state president in New Jersey, succeeding William M. Freeman. Freeman has been named president of the new company's Public Communications Group. The moves are effective upon completion of the Bell Atlantic-GTE merger.

As state president Bone assumes overall responsibility for all corporate interests for the company in New Jersey.

"Dennis is an outstanding leader in our business, and he learned many of those skills in his career at Bell Atlantic - New Jersey," said Geoff Gould, who has been named senior vice president for state and local relations at Verizon. "Bill has done an excellent job in navigating our company through a period of great change in our business, and Dennis will continue to move us forward."

"Dennis Bone has been a passionate advocate for business and education in West Virginia over the past five years, said West Virginia Gov. Cecil H. Underwood. "New Jersey is gaining a tremendous asset."

Bone started his Bell Atlantic career in 1979 as an outside plant engineer for New Jersey Bell. He worked in operations, competitive assessment, rate planning and regulatory matters before being named vice president-external affairs for Bell Atlantic-New Jersey on March 1, 1993. Bone was elected president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic-West Virginia, Inc. on Aug. 16, 1995.

Bone has a master of business administration degree in finance and economics from Rutgers University and a master of science degree in counseling from The Johns Hopkins University. Bone also received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in 1973.

Bone is immediate past president of the West Virginia State Chamber of Commerce and is vice chairman of the West Virginia Roundtable. He serves as a member of the Governor's Science and Technology Advisory Council, and he is chairman of the board of directors of the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation. He serves on the board of directors of the West Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and the Board of Advisors at West Virginia University. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Charleston. Bone is a director of One Valley Bankcorp, N.A. and a trustee of Charleston Area Medical Center where he serves as chairman of the Information Systems and Technology Committee.

While in New Jersey, Bone was a member of Leadership New Jersey and a trustee of the Independent College Fund of New Jersey.

Bone, his wife Denise and their three children will relocate to New Jersey.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With more than 44 million telephone access lines and more than 20 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.