STOCKTON, Calif. - (Business Wire) Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND), announced today that its Board of Directors added Edward A. Blechschmidt as a member effective March 25, 2008. In addition, Mr. Blechschmidt will serve as Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Mr. Blechschmidt served as Chief Executive Officer of Novelis, Inc., the global leader of aluminum rolled products and aluminum can recycling, from December 2006 until its sale to the Birla Group in May 2007. Previously, he was Chairman, Chief Executive Office and President of Gentiva Health Services, a leading provider of specialty pharmaceutical and home health care services from 2000 through 2002. Gentiva was launched as a new public company in March, 2000 as a split-off from Olsten Corporation, where Mr. Blechschmidt served as CEO and Chief Operating Officer during 1998 and 1999.
From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Blechschmidt served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens Nixdorf Americas and Siemens Pyramid Technology, as well as Executive Vice President and Board member of parent company Siemens Nixdorf Informationsysteme AG. Prior to joining Siemens, Mr. Blechschmidt served for more than 20 years with Unisys Corporation, a leading global provider of information technology and consulting services, including serving as its Chief Financial Officer, Chair of its Worldwide Corporate Quality Council and as a member of the Ethics Committee.
Mr. Blechschmidt is a graduate of Arizona State University and serves on the boards of Healthsouth Corp., which he joined in 2004 as part of the company’s transition plan to strengthen its corporate governance, Columbia Laboratories, Inc. and Lionbridge Technologies.
“We are very pleased to welcome Ed Blechschmidt to the Diamond Foods Board,” said Chairman John J. Gilbert. “Ed is a very talented executive who brings to Diamond strong leadership and financial skills in a wide variety of industries, including technology, health care and professional services. We are looking forward to drawing on his experience to help guide the Company’s growth into the future."
About Diamond
Diamond is a leading branded food company that specializes in processing, marketing and distributing culinary nuts and snack products under the Diamond(R) and Emerald(R) brands.
Diamond Foods, Inc.
Bob Philipps, 415-445-7426 (Investors)
VP, Treasury & Investor Relations
bphilipps@diamondfoods.com
or
Access Communications for Diamond Foods
David Conner, 415-844-6233
Media Relations Director
dconner@accesspr.com
or
Corporate Web Site: www.Diamondfoods.com
Consumer Web Sites: www.emeraldnuts.com
and www.Diamondnuts.com
