Alberto-Culver Names Michael Renzulli Sally Beauty Chairman; Gary Winterhalter President

MELROSE PARK, Ill., May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Alberto-Culver Company today named Michael Renzulli, 64, chairman of its Sally Beauty Company and promoted Gary Winterhalter, 53, to the position of president Sally Beauty Company. Mr.Winterhalter is currently president of Sally North America. The announcements were made by Howard B. Bernick, president & chief executive officer of Alberto-Culver.

"Mike Renzulli has been with the Alberto-Culver organization for 40 years and is recognized as a pioneer and an innovator throughout the beauty industry. He has also been honored with the highest awards the industry can bestow," Mr. Bernick commented. "Under his direction, Sally has grown from a handful of stores in the New Orleans area thirty-five years ago into the powerhouse it is today. He has been not only an outstanding merchant, but a mentor and a creative force helping the entire industry grow."

"One of Mike's most important contributions to Sally and to Alberto-Culver has been the building of a very strong management team that has participated with him in each step of Sally's remarkable growth story. Going forward, Mike will be concentrating primarily on new store and merchandising concepts with the total overall responsibility for day-to-day Sally and Beauty Systems Group (BSG) operations being in the capable hands of an experienced management team headed by Gary Winterhalter."

Mr. Winterhalter is a 30-plus year veteran of the beauty industry. He joined Sally in 1987 and has spearheaded the acquisition strategy expansion of the Beauty Systems Group and has had responsibility for all of Sally's North American stores and BSG operations for many years. He holds a BS in marketing and an MBA in finance from the University of Akron.

"It has been a privilege for me to work closely with Mike Renzulli during my twenty-eight years with Alberto-Culver and I look forward to continuing to do so and to the many contributions Mike will continue to make in his future chairman's role," Mr. Bernick commented. "In his new role, Gary Winterhalter will have a dual reporting relationship to Mike Renzulli and myself. I am excited about working even more closely with Gary in his new position, which includes global responsibility for the entire Sally and BSG business," Mr. Bernick added.

Sally Beauty Company, with over 3,000 stores, 1300 distributor sales consultants and $2+ billion in sales is the largest distributor of professional beauty supplies in the world. It includes two operating units -- Sally Beauty stores and Beauty Systems Group. Sally Beauty stores distribute professional lines of L'Oreal, Wella, Clairol, Revlon, Shiseido and scores of other beauty suppliers through cash-and-carry stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the UK, Germany and Japan. Beauty Systems Group distributes exclusive professional brands including Matrix, Redken, Graham Webb, Paul Mitchell, Rusk, TIGI, Farouk, Sebastian and Wella amongst others in the U.S., Canada and Mexico through professional distributor sales consultants and stores open only to licensed beauty professionals.

Alberto-Culver Company manufactures, distributes and markets leading personal care products including Alberto VO5, St. Ives and TRESemme in the United States and internationally. Its Pro-Line International unit is the second largest producer in the world of products for the ethnic hair care market. Sally Beauty Company is the world's number one marketer of professional beauty care products through its chain of domestic and international Sally stores. Beauty Systems Group is a network of stores and professional sales consultants selling exclusive professional beauty care brands such as Matrix, Redken, Paul Mitchell, Wella, L'Oreal, Graham Webb and Sebastian to salon owners, salon professionals and franchisees.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on Alberto-Culver management's current assessment of its markets and businesses. There are risks and uncertainties that could have an impact on these statements in the future. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from these current projections include: the pattern of brand sales, competitive activity in each of the Company's markets, loss of distribution rights, risks inherent in acquisitions and strategic alliances, loss of one or more key employees, sales by unauthorized distributors in the Company's exclusive markets, the effects of a prolonged United States or global economic downturn or recession, changes in costs, unanticipated legal proceedings, health epidemics, variations in currency exchange rates, and changes in political, economic or other external factors over which the company has no control. The company is not obligated to update any forward- looking statement in this release.