NEWS RELEASE

December 22, 2009

Acorn International announces that the Society of Professional Engineers (SPE) has selected Dean Slocum a Distinguished Lecturer for the 2010 season.  Dean will present a series of lectures for SPE worldwide on the topic of “Next Generation Stakeholder Engagement”, talking with SPE members and interested parties attending the lectures about how to manage increasingly sophisticated and important external relations challenges determining the success of exploration and production programs in developing countries.  “The Distinguished Lecturer Program extends the knowledge and experience of some of the industry’s top experts in all phases of the E&P industry.” (www.spe.org)

Acorn International, LLC is a professional consulting services company dedicated to delivering world-class, affordable EHSS assurance and straight-forward results for overseas development projects.  The company operates not through a traditional consulting services model but by providing structured tools and guidance to qualified host-country teams, maintaining a link with international clients and building capacity in the host-country team. Acorn delivers:

1.       Established teams of local country experts partnered with and directed by an expert in assuring world-class EHSS assessment and management performance standards are met

2.       Advice to international industry needing to build world-class EHSS programs

3.       Recruitment and oversight/management of partners and service providers (EHSS and other) overseas

Working with Acorn allows international industries to better manage the increasingly delicate balance between meeting corporate requirements for reliable, simplified service while satisfying host-country demands for maximum local content.