Sallie Mae Named One of America's 'Best Places to Work in Information Technology' by Computerworld Magazine

RESTON, Va., June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sallie Mae, the nation's leading provider of education funding, announced today that it has been selected as one of the top workplaces for information technology (IT) professionals by Computerworld magazine. Computerworld cited Sallie Mae's move toward a service-oriented architecture and the company's semiannual contests to solve IT challenges as reasons for its selection.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030617/SLMLOGO-a )

"Our employees benefit from a stimulating technology environment and a close partnership with their business colleagues," said Rob Autor, executive vice president and chief information officer, Sallie Mae. "This provides numerous opportunities to develop creative, high-impact solutions to complex business challenges."

Since 1994, Computerworld's annual "Best Places to Work in IT" feature has ranked the top 100 work environments for technology professionals, based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training and retention. In addition, this year Computerworld surveyed 27,000 IT workers for the list, and their responses factored heavily in determining the rankings.

"Once again, we found that IT professionals are looking for rewarding and challenging projects, access to leading-edge technologies, career growth and development and a comfortable work/life balance," said Don Tennant, editor in chief of Computerworld. "Our Best Places companies not only offer these benefits, but do so in a manner that goes well above industry norms."

SLM Corporation , commonly known as Sallie Mae, is the nation's leading provider of education funding, managing nearly $127 billion in student loans and serving 10 million borrowers. Sallie Mae was originally created in 1972 as a government-sponsored entity (GSE) and terminated its ties to the federal government in 2004. The company remains the country's largest originator of federally insured student loans. Through its specialized subsidiaries and divisions, Sallie Mae also provides debt management services as well as business and technical products to a range of business clients, including colleges, universities and loan guarantors. More information is available at http://www.salliemae.com/. SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.