Growth Brings Corporate Restructuring at Stewart Enterprises, Inc

Business Wire, Dec 19, 1996

NEW ORLEANS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 1996--Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ NMS:STEI) today announced that effective Feb. 1, 1997, it is restructuring its operations in North America. The Company's funeral home and cemetery operating divisions will be expanded from two to four. Raymond C. "Skip" Knopke, Jr. will serve as president of the new Western Division and Brent F. Heffron will serve as president of the new Southern Division.

The new Western Division includes the Company's 77 funeral homes and 5 cemeteries in Canada and 28 funeral homes and 4 cemeteries on the West Coast in California and Oregon, previously part of the Central Division. Skip Knopke is currently chief operating officer for the Company's South Atlantic Region, and was the transition management team leader in the recently completed Canadian acquisition. Knopke's Western Division office will be located in the San Francisco area.

The new Southern Division includes the Company's 55 funeral homes and 22 cemeteries in Florida, Puerto Rico and Mexico, previously part of the Eastern Division. Brent Heffron is currently chief operating officer for the Company's Central Region with responsibility for funeral homes and cemeteries in North and South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and Georgia. Heffron's Southern Division office will be located in Orlando.

"Our tremendous growth in recent months, including the recent Urgel Bourgie acquisition in Canada, the largest in our history, has provided the foundation for the formation of the Western Division. Since his family's firm joined the Company in 1984, Skip Knopke has demonstrated his ability to meet the challenge of managing an operating division. He was instrumental in the Canadian transition, and our board of directors is confident of his success in this new position," stated William E. Rowe, president and chief operating officer of Stewart Enterprises, Inc.

"Our decision to create the new Southern Division is a result of both the scope of our operations in Florida, Puerto Rico and Mexico and of Brent Heffron's experience in growing our operations. When Brent sold his funeral and cemetery operations to Stewart in 1992, his expressed career goal was to oversee divisional operations. We are pleased to demonstrate our belief in his management ability with this new appointment," added Rowe.

The formation of these two new divisions brings additional management changes. Jean Francois Parent, a member of Urgel Bourgie's senior management team, has been named chief operating officer for the Western Division's new Canadian Region headquartered in Montreal. Parent had served as vice president of operations for Urgel Bourgie, having joined the Canadian funeral home and cemetery company 16 years ago. In the new Southern Division, Keenan L. Knopke, currently regional chief operating officer with responsibility for operations in southern Florida, will move to Orlando as regional chief operating officer for the northern Florida area previously managed by Skip Knopke. Assuming Keenan Knopke's responsibilities will be Gabriel E. Romanach with a promotion to chief operating officer of the Southern Division's Southern Region based in Miami; Romanach is currently vice president of sales in this region, where he began his career with Stewart as a sales counselor in 1982. Frank L. Matasavage, currently regional vice president of finance, will be the Southern Division's chief financial officer.

Brian J. Marlowe, president of the Company's Eastern Division, announces G. Kenneth Stephen, Jr.'s appointment to chief operating officer of the Central Region, assuming responsibility for operations in North and South Carolina, Georgia and eastern Tennessee. Stephens joined the Company in 1993, when his North Carolina cemeteries merged with Stewart, and has served as vice president of cemetery operations for the Central Region. Additionally, Everett N. "Bud" Kendrick has been named chief operating officer of the division's Northern Region with responsibility for operations in Pennsylvania, Maryland and eastern Virginia. Kendrick, currently vice president of sales and marketing for the Northern Region, began his career with Stewart in 1993, and has over 32 years of sales and marketing experience in the industry. Stephen M. Lynch, currently assistant controller of the Eastern Division, has been elevated to the position of the division's chief financial officer. Lynch joined the Company in 1988 in Florida, transferring to the Eastern Division office in Maryland with a promotion in 1992.

"The realignment of our existing management team not only effectively utilizes the individual strengths of each, but demonstrates the Company's commitment to provide management career opportunities to professionals in our industry who chose to affiliate their firms with our company," said Joseph P. Henican, III, vice chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Stewart Enterprises, Inc., adding, "Each of these individuals has made a commitment to the Company through hard work and professionalism."