NYNEX Announces New State President for Rhode Island

February 26, 1997

CONTACT:Tracey Kennedy (401) 525-3631

NYNEX Announces New State President for Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE -- Donna C. Cupelo has been

named NYNEX President & CEO for Rhode Island. In this

capacity, she will serve as the states chief NYNEX

executive, representing all areas of the corporation

including primary responsibility for service, earnings,

government and regulatory affairs, public policy, community

affairs and economic development.

Cupelo, who was vice president and

general manager for NYNEX operations in central and western

Massachusetts, succeeds Carol Grant, who accepted a position

as vice president of human resources at Textron Inc., a

global, multi-industry company headquartered in the Ocean

State, effective February 1.

Donna Cupelo is eminently qualified to

continue NYNEXs longstanding commitment to provide local

leadership in the communities where our customers live and

work, said Wayne Budd, Senior Vice President -- NYNEX New

England.

Cupelo joined New England Telephone in

1978 as a market administrator in Worcester, Mass.,

supporting business customers in central and Western

Massachusetts. She received a business administration degree

from Providence College in 1978 and an M.B.A. from Babson

College in 1981. --

After holding a variety of sales,

marketing and process improvement positions with New England

Telephone and NYNEX, she became vice president and general

manager for NYNEX operations in central and Western

Massachusetts in April 1995.

Cupelo has been active in the American

Cancer Society; Telephone Pioneers of America; the Dedham,

Mass., Food Pantry and Housing Authority; and in the

Franklin, Mass., school system.

NYNEX is a global communications and

media corporation that provides a full range of services in

the northeastern United States and high-growth markets

around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand,

Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland,

Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The corporation is a leader

in telecommunications, wirefree communications, directory

publishing and video entertainment and information services.

NYNEX is also managing sponsor of FLAG -- Fiberoptic Link

Around the Globe -- the worlds longest undersea fiber optic

communications cable.

FAX copies of recent NYNEX news releases are available free of charge, 24 hours a day. Call 1-800-331-1214 and an automated system will provide instructions.