ASI Announces Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

 March 24, 2004, Trevose, PA – Advertising Specialty Institute announced today that it has appointed Vincent Mendola to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Mendola was chosen from among 600 applicants for his focus on best practices and his expertise in financial systems re-engineering.

Mendola’s career includes experience serving as Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations for Reality Online, Inc., a subsidiary of Reuters; Corporate Controller for Medical Resources, Inc.; Vice President of Finance for The Hillier Group; and Vice President of Finance and General Manager for the North American-based traveler’s cheques division of Thomas Cook, Inc.

“When a company with ASI’s track record for client focus and industry leadership, and a mission aimed at continuous process improvement, asks you to join its management team, your only question is, ‘When do I start?’,” Mendola said. “I am very happy to be a member of the ASI team and look forward to contributing toward ASI’s success.”

Mendola was welcomed to ASI by President Timothy M. Andrews. “As we continue to evolve our financial management and business practices, we are very excited to have someone whose experience and capability is directly relevant to our needs,” Andrews said. “Vince will be a valuable addition to our finance team and to our company.”

Mendola received an MBA from Drexel University, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Rider University. He is a Certified Public Accountant who maintains his edge by attending executive continuing education programs at The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania, The University of Michigan and The Center for Creative Leadership.

Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media organization serving the promotional products industry, with a membership of 20,000 distributors (sellers) and suppliers (manufacturers) of promotional products. Suppliers use ASI print and electronic resources to promote their products to more than 17,000 ASI distributors. Distributors use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain more than 650,000 promotional products, to locate supplier products and to promote their services to buyers of promotional products. ASI was founded in 1950 and employs a staff of 500. The company offers catalogs, informational directories, newsletters, magazines, Web sites and databases, and provides a variety of interactive business, marketing and selling tools.