December 6, 2002

To Whom It May Concern:

I write this letter to recommend Bruce McLaren to your organization in any capacity of management and leadership in the area of Information Technology.

Bruce is an individual of extremely high values and morals. He has shown dedication and professionalism in all aspects of our work together over the past three years.

Bruce, in his capacity as product manager for the CarParts Tradera Point of Sales system, worked with me to implement the OpenWebs Intelligent Trading Network (OW-ITN) system to Michelin North America and its independent dealer channel.

As chief architect and product manager of the OW-ITN product, Bruce was a strong leader to his team in Pittsburgh and California, and did very well with his interactions with Michelin Corporate executives as we went through the product roll-out within North America.

Bruce would be a very valuable and highly productive addition to the leadership of your organization.

Sincerely,

John Fischer

VP — Tire Solutions Sales & Product Management