Stephen L. Norris President Of Carlyle Group Joins Global Digital Solutions Board of Directors, Is Named Chairman And CEO

Global Digital Solutions, Inc.

, a company that is positioning itself as a leader in providing cyber arms manufacturing and complementary security and technology solutions, today announced that Stephen L. Norris has joined the Company's Board of Directors and has been named Chairman and CEO of GDSI International. Currently serving as Chairman of Stephen Norris Capital Partners, LLC, Mr. Norris has substantial expertise in structuring, negotiating and implementing leveraged buy-outs, cash-flow-based investments and financing strategies in the public and private capital markets. Mr. Norris is one of five co-founders of the Carlyle Group, a major merchant bank based in Washington, D.C. From 1988-1997, Mr. Norris served as Carlyle's President. He was a principal participant and key advisor in Carlyle's numerous investments in various public and private companies. While at Carlyle, Mr. Norris, along with other senior members of the Carlyle team, participated in the acquisition, disposition, strategic focusing and financing (in public and private markets) of numerous companies involving several billion dollars of equity capital. Carlyle invested in leveraged buyouts (LBOs), venture capital (particularly telecommunications and wireless companies in the pre-Internet days), and real estate. Today, Carlyle is one of the largest and most successful private equity firms in the world. "The entire GDSI team is thrilled that Steve Norris has joined our board of directors and that he will serve as chairman and CEO of GDSI International," said Richard J. Sullivan, GDSI's President and CEO. "Steve's record of success in negotiating and implementing large-scale investments and financing strategies is truly world-class. The fact that Steve has developed senior-level working relationships with essentially all of the major investment banks in the United States and in the international arena will prove to be highly beneficial as GDSI implements our global growth strategy. I welcome Steve Norris to the GDSI senior leadership team and look forward to working closely with him and benefiting from his incomparable experience in seizing profitable opportunities in U.S. and global capital markets." "I'm honored to join the GDSI board and to begin serving as Chairman and CEO of GDSI International," said Stephen Norris. "Dick Sullivan and the entire GDSI leadership team have a remarkable record of acquiring and growing leading-edge technology companies. I see enormous growth opportunity for GDSI in both the U.S. and the international arenas and I certainly look forward to working with the GDSI team to leverage these opportunities in the months and years ahead." More About Stephen L. Norris, JD, LLM The Honorable Stephen L. Norris served on the Board of Directors of each major Carlyle Group portfolio company and played a major role in strategic decisions. During his tenure, Carlyle's investments produced very successful returns for the investors, averaging approximately a realized 40% internal rate of return (IRR). Most notably, Mr. Norris had direct responsibility for well over $1 billion in investments, in addition to directing and managing a prominent investor's investment in the recapitalization of Citibank now Citigroup. Mr. Norris' business relationships also made possible this investor's subsequent investments in Euro Disney and Four Seasons Hotels. By the end of 1998, these three investments had produced well over $10 billion in profits. In 1992, Mr. Norris was appointed by President George Bush, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as one of the five board members of the approximately (at the time) $68 billion Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. During his tenure (1992-1995), Mr. Norris successfully advocated for the right of Federal employees to allocate a greater portion of their savings into public equities. Until late 1996, Mr. Norris served on the Advisory Committee of SEAG, Inc. which advises the Saudi Government on economic development and diversification within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Prior to co-founding Carlyle, Mr. Norris was a Corporate Vice President of Marriott Corporation in Washington, D.C. He was a principal strategist and advisor for Marriott's substantial public and private financings, limited partnerships, acquisitions and divestitures from 1981 to mid-1987. Mr. Norris was a Fellow at Yale Law School (1977) and received a B.S. and J.D. (1972, 1975) with honors from the University of Alabama, and an L.L.M. from New York University (1976).