FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:   Elissa Ruffino (NIAF) 202/939-3106202/939-3106 or 202/939-310 elissa@niaf.org

** Alan Greenspan to Speak to Italian American Business Executives**

(WASHINGTON, DC – August 15, 2001) Actor Nicolas Cage, director and actor Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana Morosini Reeve, and Sony’s Tommy Mottola are among the honorees at the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) 26th Anniversary Awards Gala, Saturday evening, October 20 at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Nicolas Cage will be the first inductee into the NIAF’s new “Hall of Fame” for his work in the cinema. A special NIAF award will be presented to actor Christopher Reeve and his Italian American wife, Dana, for their outstanding work in spinal cord injury research. Tommy Mottola, chairman and CEO, Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., will receive a NIAF Special Achievement Award in the Music Industry.

Business honorees joining Mr. Mottola at this year’s gala include Domenico De Sole, president and CEO of Gucci Group NV ,and Roger Enrico, vice chairman of PepsiCo, Inc. Mr. De Sole and Mr. Enrico will receive NIAF Special Achievement Awards in Fashion and Industry, and Business, respectively.

Members of the Italian American Congressional Delegation, and Italian American leaders in business, sports, entertainment and the arts are expected at the event which has been attended by every U.S. President since 1975. This year’s dinner chairman is United States Senator Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania.

The NIAF awards gala dinner is one of the premier annual events in Washington, DC, attracting more than 3,100 people from throughout the country and abroad. During the weekend, the NIAF will hold a CEO conference for leading Italian American business executives, Friday October 19. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will brief the executives during a private luncheon on Capitol Hill followed by a White House briefing.

The NIAF convention will also feature conferences, exhibits, the traditional celebrity luncheon and auction, a seminar on tourism, and a wine tasting hosted by Bolla Wines.

Dinner tickets begin at $350 each. Proceeds from the event benefit the NIAF Scholarship and Education Programs and “Gardens of Hope,” an inner city food program to benefit the homeless and those in shelters. For tickets or sponsor information, Contact: Jerry Jones at 202/387-0600202/387-0600 or gala@niaf.org.