American Greetings Names Robert Ryder as Chief Financial Officer

CLEVELAND, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) announced today that it has appointed Robert Ryder as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Ryder succeeds William Meyer, who announced his impending retirement in March, and who has been operating as chief financial officer since then.

Ryder brings 13 years of diverse experience at PepsiCo to American Greetings. Most recently, he was vice president and controller for PepsiCo's $9 billion Frito-Lay North America division in Dallas, where he was a member of the executive committee and managed a staff of 600. In that role, he was responsible for financial reporting and analysis, financial operations, internal control, financial systems implementation, cash flow optimization and tax initiatives. Prior to that, he was vice president and chief financial officer of Frito-Lay International's $1 billion developing markets region, based in London. Earlier, he was the director of strategic planning for PepsiCo's $5 billion Frito-Lay International division in New York.

"We are fortunate to have an executive of Bob's caliber with extensive experience at a global consumer products company," said Zev Weiss, executive vice president, AG ventures and enterprise management. "He brings strong leadership, strategic and financial skills that will benefit American Greetings as we continue to stabilize our core business and begin to explore new opportunities to grow emerging businesses."

Ryder began his career at the New York City office of the public accounting firm Price Waterhouse. He is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor of science in accounting from the University of Scranton.

About American Greetings

American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. Its staff of artists, designers and writers comprises one of the largest creative departments in the world and helps consumers "say it best" by supplying more than 15,000 greeting card designs to retail outlets in nearly every English-speaking country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual net sales of approximately $2 billion. For more
information on the Corporation, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com/ on the World Wide Web.