Clearfield CEO Wins National Award for Business Turn-A-Round

Cheri Beranek Podzimek receives "Stevie Award" for Women in Business

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Clearfield Inc. (Nasdaq:CLFD) has been named Business Turn-A-Round story of 2008 with the presentation of a Stevie Award for Women in Business to Cheri Beranek Podzimek, president and CEO, for her role in Clearfield's successful turnaround. This year, more than 1,200 nominations were submitted for consideration for Stevie Awards, an international competition recognizing the accomplishments of outstanding women executives, business owners, and the companies they run.

Podzimek, who became CEO of Clearfield in June 2007, lead the company to its first profitable quarter within three months of assuming the helm. Under her leadership, the Minnesota-based company recorded its first $1 million profit this year with an annual 25 percent revenue growth through the quarter ending June 2008. Clearfield is a telecommunications infrastructure provider to the emerging "Fiber to the Premise" marketplace.

Podzimek is credited with turning around a company that has not recorded an operating profit in more than 20 years. Over the course of a year, she instituted a number of positive changes including:

    --  Rebranding the company from APA to Clearfield Inc.
    --  Focusing the company's sales and marketing efforts on the rural
        telecommunications market.
    --  Closing or selling-off operations that were not strategic.
    --  Redirecting resources to identified growth engines.
    --  Gaining a competitive technological edge by green-lighting a number of
        Fiber-to-the-Home innovations, such as the FieldSmart Fiber Scalability
        Center for outside plant networks, FieldSmart Fiber Distribution System
        for inside plant networks, FieldSmart Fiber Delivery Point for access
        networks, and the patent-pending Clearview Cassette.

"While it's very gratifying to be recognized," Podzimek said, "the greatest reward is seeing the success generated from the long hours and great work of the Clearfield community of employees. I'm very confident in the direction we're taking this company, and will continue to focus on serving the interests of the Clearfield shareholder."

In addition to Clearfield, the other finalists in the Company Turnaround category were: Royal Neighbors of America, Rock Island, Ill. and SeraCare Life Sciences, Inc., Milford, Mass.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world's premier business awards. The award ceremony took place earlier this month in New York City.

More than 1,200 nominations were submitted this year for consideration in 50 categories by organizations in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Africa, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., and Venezuela.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

About Clearfield, Inc.

Clearfield, Inc., designs and manufactures FieldSmart - a modular fiber management platform using the patented Clearview Cassette as an "Any Application, Anywhere" multiplier to meeting the fiber management needs of the broadband service provider. Product lines include the latest generation Fiber Distribution System (FDS) for the inside plant, the Fiber Scalability Center (FSC) for the outside plant, and Fiber Delivery Points (FDP) for access networks. The FDS, FSC and FDP product lines support a wide range of panel configurations, densities, connectors and adapter options, and are offered alongside an assortment of passive optical components and a complete line of fiber and copper assemblies for indoor plant, outside plant and access environments. Clearfield is a public company, traded on Nasdaq:CLFD.

More information about Clearfield, Inc., its products and its people can be found at www.ClearfieldConnection.com.

Photos are available of the awards ceremony are available by contacting Gary Young at garydyoung@comcast.net or 612-247-8123 or go to www.ClearfieldConnection.com/press/release/2008/11/21.

    Source: Clearfield Inc.

Released November 24, 2008