Prudential Agent Emeritus Sol Hicks Wins Top Award for Seventh Time

    Business Editors

    NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 2, 2005--Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) announced today that Sol Hicks, an agent emeritus in the Prudential agency in Atlanta, has won the President's Trophy Award, the most prestigious award that can be won by a sales professional in the company's Agency Distribution field operations.
    This marks the seventh time in 10 years that Hicks has won the award. In the company's 130-year history, only one other Prudential sales professional has won the award seven times. In his 35 years with Prudential, Hicks has received more than 20 President's Citations, and is both a Lifetime and Top of the Table member of the Million Dollar Round Table. He won the President's Trophy Award in 2004, 2003, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1996, and 1995.
    "Congratulations to Sol Hicks for winning the President's Trophy this year and for becoming one of only two sales professional to reach this achievement level seven times. This distinguished award reflects Sol's extraordinary performance, his knowledge and passion and his continued commitment to excellence," said John Greene, president of Agency Distribution in Prudential's life insurance business unit.
    "I am thrilled to win the Trophy. I love what I do because it allows me to make a difference in the lives of people I meet and with whom I develop relationships," said Hicks. "What's more, I mentor more than a dozen other Prudential agents and winning the Trophy helps me prove to them that they can achieve whatever they set their hearts on, provided that they stay focused and do not let themselves become distracted," said Hicks.
    Hicks is a resident of Kennesaw, Georgia. His agency, the Southern Star Agency in Atlanta, led by Andy Gentile, managing director, also won a President's Trophy Award for best agency. Awards also were presented to the leading field supervisor - Peter Monferdini, LUTCF, CLTC, and CMFC, in the Greater Illinois Agency in Champaign, Illinois; and the leading manager of financial services - Eric Porter, of the Greater Orange Coast Agency in Irvine, California.
    The Trophy Awards were presented at Prudential's annual President's Conference black tie awards banquet, held this year in Dana Point, California.
    Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $500 billion in total assets under management as of December 31, 2004, serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement related services and administration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocation services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.

--30--RC/ny*

CONTACT: Prudential Financial, Inc. Karen Oliver Howell, 973-802-9533 karen.howell@prudential.com

KEYWORD: GEORGIA NEW JERSEY INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INSURANCE BANKING SOURCE: Prudential Financial, Inc.

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