Topco Associates LLC names Randall Skoda Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Business Wire, April 13, 2005

SKOKIE, Ill. -- Topco Associates LLC announced today the appointment of Randall (Randy) Skoda as its new Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Skoda will be responsible for management of the company's financial and information technology areas, product quality assurance, and the company's initiatives in the equipment & supplies and financial services areas. Skoda will report directly to Steve Lauer, Topco's President and Chief Executive Officer.

Skoda most recently served as President of Old Town Partners, a professional services firm providing business and financial consulting services to privately held companies. Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Sayers Group LLC, a company involved in developing technology infrastructure solutions for complex business environments. In addition, Skoda was previously Controller of Topco and with KPMG where he served in their retail and distribution practices, in the Chicago office, as well as in KPMG's Executive Offices in New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

"We are delighted to have a person of Randy's expertise joining Topco. Randy is an exceptional talent and has a proven track record of success," says Lauer. "I have had the privilege of working with Randy when he was previously employed at Topco, and I am confident that he is the right person to help us achieve our long-term objectives."

Skoda earned degrees in Accounting and Finance from Baylor University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Topco Associates LLC specializes in aggregating the multi-billion dollar purchases of its 55 food industry members in the procurement of a broad range of products and services including; private label, national brands, perishables, and equipment/supplies. Topco serves as a vehicle to leverage its members' collective volume to reduce product costs and to obtain economies of scale in a variety of support areas, thus enabling its members to effectively compete against national companies.