For Immediate Release

Contact:
Barbara Jean Walsh, Professional BoatBuilder magazine (888) 668-8801
proboattraining@proboat.com

Caroline Chetelat, ABYC (410) 990-4460, ext. 22
cchetelat@abycinc.org

Tom Marhevko, NMMA (312) 946-6200
tmarhevko@nmma.org

November 6, 2007, Annapolis, MD; Brooklin, ME; and Chicago, IL: The Marine Industry Technical Education Council (MITEC) is pleased to announce that Yamaha, Ken Cook Co., and the Great Lakes Boat Building School have joined the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC), the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Professional Boatbuilder magazine in pledging financial support for the third Conference on Marine Industry Technical Training (COMITT). The conference will be held February 18-20, 2008 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and will examine key workforce-development and technical-training issues in the marine industry.

"These organizations share MITEC and COMITT's common goal of addressing our industry's need to develop and maintain a highly skilled and technically proficient workforce," stated MITEC Chair, Steve Kitchen (Vice President, Corporate Education and Training at New England Institute of Technology).

"As a workforce development professional," said Kitchin, "I can relate to the challenges the industry is facing. It is important for us to stay in tune with our industry's need to attract and maintain a solid workforce through a conference like this, and MITEC gratefully acknowledges the generous support offered by the conference sponsors. Without their assistance the conference could not take place."

Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available for COMITT. Anyone who is interested can contact the ABYC Education Office at (410) 990-4460, send an email to COMITT2008@gmail.com or visit www.comitt.org.

In addition, the conference brochure, registration forms, and hotel information are all available online at www.comitt.org. Thanks to the support of Elluminate Inc., selected COMITT presentations will be presented simultaneously as free online events. Registration for these programs is available at http://comitt2008.eventbrite.com.

Conference planners are also encouraging potential participants to join the "COMITT 2008" group on the social network Facebook to share their ideas and concerns. Planners have also established an interactive news page at www.pageflakes.com/COMITT2008 and a "connections" map at www.attendr.com/COMITT2008.

COMITT 2008 will provide a forum to present, discuss, and demonstrate industry support of marine industry technical workforce education, training, certification and professional development. COMITT's purpose is to become the internationally recognized leading summit to highlight the marine industry's commitment to develop and maintain a highly-skilled and technically proficient workforce.