Zipcar Names Scott Griffith CEO

    BOSTON--Feb. 14, 2003--Zipcar, the member-based company that has revolutionized the way urban drivers view automobile transportation, has named Scott W. Griffith chief executive officer of the company. The appointment was confirmed today following a meeting of the company's board of directors. He follows Founder Robin Chase who will continue to play a key role in strategy, member relations and external communications. Both Griffith and Chase will sit on Zipcar's board of directors.
    Griffith joins Zipcar in a period of unprecedented growth. The firm has more than 5,500 active members and 180 cars in over 170 locations in the Boston, New York, and Washington D.C areas. Zipcar, in just less than three years of existence, has proven to be a smart alternative to the expense and hassle of automobile ownership and usage in metropolitan areas.
    In his new position, Griffith will drive Zipcar's expanded consumer marketing strategy, raise capital to fund growth into new geographies and expand the company's partnerships with universities, municipalities and large institutions and enterprises.
    Griffith most recently was chairman, president and CEO of Digital Goods (formerly SoftLock.com) of Maynard, Mass., a software and services company targeting the publishing industry through a multi-channel Internet distribution system. Prior to that position, he served as president of Information America in Atlanta, a provider of on-line information best known for knowx.com, billed as the first and most affordable source of public records information.
    Griffith has extensive experience raising equity capital as well as a history of senior level responsibility for business strategy and development, sales and marketing, and mergers and acquisitions, both for private and public companies.
    He was a founding partner of Treacy & Company, a Boston-based boutique business strategy and investment firm and was a principal in The Parthenon Group, also of Boston, a business strategy consultation company founded by former executives from Bain & Company.
    A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Griffith holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. He is a director of Forefield, Inc. of Marlboro, Mass. and a member of the Boston Advisory Council for Carnegie Mellon's School of Engineering. He is married and has two children.
    Zipcar provides on demand cars for short-term round trip use to individual, corporate, government, municipal and institutional members.
    Zipcars are conveniently located in reserved parking spaces in urban neighborhoods and business districts and can be used by members, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, for as little as one hour or as long as several days at a time. Reservations are made online or by phone in 30 seconds or less. Proprietary, in-car technology tracks all the information needed for billing so that members have no paperwork to fill out and no logs to keep. The system also offers security in that only the member who has reserved a particular car can gain entry into it. Zipcar pays for assigned parking, maintenance, insurance and even gas.
    According to an international study, each membership vehicle takes between seven and 10 privately owned vehicles off the street. On average, one Zipcar services the needs of 25 urban drivers and, according to company research, 15% of Zipcar members have given up private car ownership and 35% have postponed the purchase of a new car. The cost for a Zipcar membership is $20-$75 and members pay as they go with hourly and mileage charges.
    Research conducted by AAA shows the average monthly costs associated with car ownership in urban areas breaks down as follows: $300, vehicle depreciation or lease costs; $110, insurance; $200, parking; $50 gasoline; $40, maintenance for a monthly total of $700. In comparison, a typical monthly Zipcar member bill for 15 hours of driving during three sessions is $100-$150.

    For additional information, please visit www.zipcar.com.