Ralph (Mike) S. Michael III Elected Board Member of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc

June 2006 - ChampionScott Partners has placed financial services executive Ralph (Mike) S. Michael III as a new member of the board of directors at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. (NYSE: FBR).

Headquartered in Washington D. C. Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc (http://www.fbr.com). provides investment banking, institutional brokerage, asset management, and private client services through its operating subsidiaries and invests in mortgage-related assets and merchant banking opportunities. FBR focuses capital and financial expertise on eight industry sectors: consumer, diversified industrials, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, healthcare, insurance, real estate, and technology, media and telecommunications. It is the parent company of First NLC Financial Services, Inc., a non-conforming residential mortgage originator headquartered in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Mr. Michael is the President and Chief Operating Officer of The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company. He is also a director of Key Energy Services, Inc., Integrated Alarm Services Group, Inc. and Cincinnati Bengals, Inc. Prior to becoming President and COO of The Ohio Casualty Insurance Company in 2005, Mr. Michael served as Executive Vice President and Manager of Private Asset Management for U.S. Bank, National Association. In addition to Private Asset Management, Mr. Michael also served as Executive Vice President and Manager of West Commercial Banking and as President of U.S. Bank – Oregon. For more than twenty years, Mr. Michael held numerous executive and management positions with PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh, PA. Michael holds a B.S. in Economics from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. in Business Administration from the University of California at Los Angeles Graduate School of Management.

ChampionScott Partners is the world's premier retained executive search firm focused exclusively on the technology industry and related sectors. Our firm delivers the personalized focus of a technology boutique combined with the research resources and global reach of a large international firm through our offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. We have conducted over 500 searches and played pivotal roles in the formation of over 200 technology companies around the world. ChampionScott Partners recruits CEOs, their direct reports, and Board Directors for companies ranging from start-ups to the Global 500 in the key technology centers of the U.S., Europe, Japan, China, India and Israel. On every engagement our team provides partner-level knowledge and judgment gained through our decades of experience in the technology industry.