Charles Fote Retires from First Data and Ric Duques Returns as CEO

DENVER - Charles T. Fote, chairman and chief executive officer of First Data Corp., has advised the board that he is retiring from the company for personal reasons. Fote, 56, has been CEO since 2002 and chairman since 2003. He will continue as chairman until year-end and as a director until the 2006 Annual Meeting. He will also serve as a consultant for the next 18 months.

Henry C. (Ric) Duques, 62, who was Fote's predecessor and led First Data from before its IPO in 1992 until he stepped down as CEO in 2002, will return as chairman and CEO for approximately two years to lead the company forward while assisting the board in conducting a succession process that will evaluate both internal and external candidates.

Duques had served as a board member of First Data from 1992 until 2004. He was chairman and CEO from 1992 to 2002, and continued as chairman from 2002 to 2003. Before First Data was spun out of American Express in 1992, Duques had been president and CEO of the Data Based Services Group of American Express since 1987.

Duques is a director of Unisys Corporation and Northern Trust of Florida Corp, and is a trustee of The George Washington University.

Fote joined First Data in 1975, before it became part of American Express. He became vice president of finance and planning with the American Express Money Order Division in 1981 and executive vice president of American Express Travel Related Services' Data Based Services Group in 1985. He served as president of First Data's Integrated Payment Systems subsidiary from 1989 until 1991, when he became executive vice president of First Data. In 1998, he was named president and chief operating officer of First Data. In 2002, he became chief executive officer, and in 2003 also became chairman.