Citizens Communications Appoints Peter B. Hayes Senior Vice President,

    Business Editors/Telecommunications Writers

    STAMFORD,Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 12, 2005--Citizens Communications (NYSE:CZN) today announced that Peter B. "Pete" Hayes will join the company on Feb. 1, 2005, as Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development. Mr. Hayes will be a member of the company's Senior Leadership Team and report to Maggie Wilderotter, Citizens' President and Chief Executive Officer.
    "Pete brings great skills in strategic selling, branding and partnership management to Citizens," said Ms. Wilderotter. "I am confident that that he will put our customers first, will be innovative in our product positioning, and will assure that Citizens really differentiates itself in the marketplace. He is a great addition to our team."
    Most recently, Mr. Hayes was Microsoft's Vice President, Public Sector, Europe, Middle East and Africa, leading sales, services, marketing, programs, government relations and technical teams. Prior to that, he was General Manager, Microsoft US Government, Washington, DC, responsible for Microsoft's US federal and state and local customers. Prior to this, he was Director, WorldWide Enterprise Field Strategy, Director, Field and Customer Relations, and District Manager, Southeast District, of Microsoft North America.
    Prior to joining Microsoft in 1991, Mr. Hayes worked for IBM for 12 years, holding various sales, technical and management positions. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Finance from the University of South Alabama.

    About Citizens Communications

    Citizens Communications is the seventh-largest local exchange company in the United States. It offers communications services under the "Frontier" brand in 23 states and a variety of integrated telecommunications products through its CLEC, Electric Lightwave, LLC. Its conferencing subsidiary, Citizens Conferencing, is based in Chicago, Ill.

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CONTACT: Citizens Communications Brigid Smith, 203-614-5042 bsmith@czn.com

KEYWORD: CONNECTICUT INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ADVERTISING/MARKETING TELECOMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT CHANGES SOURCE: Citizens Communications

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