Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol: SXC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                      

SYSTEMS XCELLENCE ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD MEMBER 

MILTON, Ontario October 28, 2002 -- Systems Xcellence Inc., (“SXC”) (TSX: SXC) announces the appointment of Andrew Wilkes to its Board of Directors. Mr. Wilkes has more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive, director and advisor for both private and public companies. His industry experience includes healthcare, enterprise and data management software, financial services, consumer goods and energy products. Mr. Wilkes replaces Mr. Shaun Kobrin, previously of Covington Capital. Mr. Kobrin, who recently left Covington to pursue other interests, became a Board member following Covington’s participation in SXC’s March 2001 special warrant financing.  

"We are very pleased to welcome Andy to our Board as he brings a broad range of academic and hands-on experience to the team,” said Gordon S. Glenn, President & CEO of SXC. “In particular, we look forward to drawing on Andy’s expertise as we identify, develop and implement potential strategic alliances, joint ventures and acquisitions.” 

Mr. Wilkes is a Managing Partner with Management Initiatives Inc., a financial services firm.  At Management Initiatives, Mr. Wilkes applies his business development and strategic planning experience to the management of its client’s portfolio companies. Before joining Management Initiatives, he owned an energy products manufacturing company, where he initiated a turn-around strategy resulting in earnings improvement and significant sales growth. He subsequently sold this company to a US-based competitor. Prior to owning his own company, Mr. Wilkes developed his management skills with Pillsbury Foods and Chipman Foods Company, where he was instrumental in the integration of newly acquired business units. Throughout his career, Mr. Wilkes has developed a keen interest in business development and has considerable experience in investing in and acquiring businesses or divisions of larger companies. Mr. Wilkes began his career at Ernst & Young where he was a senior auditor.   

Mr. Wilkes holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business (1998 Dean’s Honours List) and a Bachelor of Commerce and Chartered Accountant designation. 

About Systems Xcellence Inc: 

Systems Xcellence (SXC) is headquartered in Milton, Ontario with offices and processing centres in Lombard, Illinois, Scottsdale, Arizona and Victoria, British Columbia.  SXC is a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions and services to the healthcare benefits management industry. The company’s product offerings and solutions combine a wide range of software applications, application service provider (ASP) processing services and professional services, designed for many of the largest organizations in the pharmaceutical supply chain, such as pharmacy benefit managers, managed care organizations, retail pharmacy chains and other healthcare intermediaries.   

The company’s products offer its customers comprehensive pharmacy benefits management, claims switching and processing, drug dispensing, data warehousing and analysis, and rebate contract management systems. SXC delivers these solutions to its customers as software products bundled with systems implementation and consulting services, or on an ASP basis from its data centres in Scottsdale, Arizona and Lombard, Illinois. The Company’s shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SXC.  SXC can be found on the Internet at www.sxc.com. 

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Management Discussion and Analysis published in the Company's annual report.

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