LATINA Style magazine has named SBC Communications to its list of America's 50 best companies for hiring and promoting Hispanic working women. The 2001 LATINA Style 50, released today, lists SBC among the top U.S. corporations that actively promote career opportunities for Latina professionals at every level. SBC has made the LATINA Style 50 every year since the list was first published in 1998.

Latinas represent a significant number of SBC's workforce, with more than 14,500 Hispanic women working throughout the company. SBC's 219,000-member workforce is comprised of 50 percent women, 14 percent Hispanics and 36 percent total minorities; five Hispanic women are among the company's highest ranking officers.

"The talents and contributions of Hispanic women are a vital part of our company's continued growth and success," said Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., chief executive officer of SBC Communications. "This recognition underscores our commitment to promoting and maintaining a diverse workforce."

To compile the ranking, the editors surveyed 600 U.S. corporations, including Fortune 500 companies and companies with a strong presence in the Hispanic community. Working with the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) and the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, the magazine sent a comprehensive questionnaire to every Fortune 500 CEO and targeted business leader. Companies were evaluated on a variety of workplace issues such as Latinas in management, Hispanic relations, training programs, alternative work policies, child and dependent care, health care, and retirement benefits.

The LATINA Style 50 is the only national effort to evaluate corporate responsiveness to the needs of Hispanic female working professionals. The official results of the 2001 LATINA Style 50 listing will appear in the magazine's August issue. Other Fortune 500 companies to make this year's list of the best companies for Latinas includes American Express, IBM, Marriott and Johnson & Johnson.

SBC is a recognized leader of hiring and promoting women and minorities in the workplace. In addition to being named to the LATINA Style 50, SBC has received several recognitions for its commitment to promoting diversity, including: the 2001 Corporate Conscience Award for Diversity from the Center for Responsibility in Business; Fortune magazine's 50 best companies for minorities for three consecutive years; and being named among Working Woman magazine's Top 25 Corporations for Executive Women for two consecutive years.

SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader. Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands - Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, SNET and Sterling Commerce - and world-class network, SBC and its affiliated companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services, including local and long-distance voice, high-speed Internet access and data transport, voice and data network integration, software and process integration, Web site and application hosting, e-marketplace development, paging and messaging, as well as cable and satellite television, and directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 61.3 million access lines and is undertaking a national expansion program under SBC Telecom that will bring SBC service to new U.S. markets. SBC has a 60 percent equity interest in Cingular Wireless, its joint venture with BellSouth, which serves more than 20 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in 28 countries and has annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.

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