American Greetings Announces Management Change in Sales & Marketing

CLEVELAND, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings Corporation NYSE: AM today announced that Steve Willensky, Senior Vice President Executive Sales and Marketing Officer, is retiring. The Company also announced that it has appointed John Beeder to the position of Senior Vice President Executive Sales and Marketing Officer.

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John Beeder was most recently a managing partner and the chief operating officer for Compact Clinicals, a niche medical publisher. Beeder also brings over 20 years of experience at Hallmark Cards, Inc. in a variety of leadership positions with his last position being Senior Vice President for greeting cards. While at Hallmark, Beeder also held a variety of business development, product development, and finance roles.

Management Comments

Chief Executive Officer Zev Weiss said, "We are excited to have found someone with John's breadth of experience in our industry to work with our retail partners and to help position American Greetings for future growth in the marketplace."

"We are also grateful for Steve's skilled leadership in both sales and marketing since joining American Greetings in 2002. Steve was instrumental in the development of our strategic card initiative, which has been very important to our business over the past two years," said Weiss.

About American Greetings Corporation

American Greetings Corporation NYSE: AM is one of the world's largest manufacturers of social expression products. Along with greeting cards, its product lines include gift wrap, party goods, stationery, calendars, ornaments and electronic greetings. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion. For more information on the Company, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com .