Columbia Sussex, Tropicana Casinos Hire New CFO.

John G. Jacob brings 20 years of cost and financial management experience to key post for hotel and casino companies

FT. MITCHELL, Ky. -- John G. Jacob has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Columbia Sussex Corporation, Tropicana Casinos and Resorts/ Tropicana Entertainment, according to an announcement by William J. Yung, owner and CEO of the two companies. Jacob, who has more than 20 years of financial management and accounting experience, will assume his position with Columbia Sussex and with Tropicana following appropriate gaming regulatory reviews.

"John has the cost management, consumer product and M&A credentials required to lead the finance units of the companies' hotel and casino businesses," said Yung. "His background includes work with both large and small companies, an important factor for us because we have multiple cost centers of varying scale that need to be unified in approach and accounting output.

"He also has both public and private company accounting experience, so he will be able to oversee our public debt reporting and casino regulatory filings," Yung continued.

From 1999 to 2006, Jacob was Chief Financial Officer of Acorn Products, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, where he helped lead a turnaround of the publicly traded garden tool company prior to its sale to Ames True Temper last year. As CFO he executed capital restructuring programs and led cost efficiency drives that resulted in millions of dollars in savings.

During the 1990s, Jacob worked as a vice president of finance for three consumer product and package goods companies: Sun Apparel/Polo Jeans, Maidenform Worldwide, and Kayser-Roth Corporation. In each position he was responsible for efficiency-producing cost structure and working capital programs in addition to oversight of accounting and control.

Earlier in his career, from 1986 to 1991, Jacob was a customer accounting and project manager for Unisys Corporation, a $10 billion computer hardware and software company. His time with Unisys included a two-year posting to the company's Japan operations.

Following graduation from the University of Michigan School of Business with his MBA in finance and international business, Jacob earned his CPA certification and worked for Southfield, Michigan, based Plante & Morgan where he was an audit supervisor in the regional accounting firm. Jacob's undergraduate bachelor's degree was also earned at Michigan where he was an honors graduate of the School of Business Administration.

About Columbia Sussex Corporation

Columbia Sussex Corporation is one of the largest privately held owners, developers and operators of hotel properties in the world, and is the largest licensee of full-service Marriott Hotels in the U.S. Owned by William J. Yung and members of his family, the company and its affiliates own more than 80 hotels and 27,000 rooms across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The properties operate under top brand names including Marriott, Hilton, Westin, Sheraton, Renaissance and Doubletree.

About Tropicana Casinos & Resorts, Inc.

Tropicana Casinos & Resorts is a privately held corporation that owns and operates 14 casinos and resorts in the United States and Caribbean. The company is owned by William J. Yung, III, whose ownership of gaming interests dates to 1990 when he purchased a small casino hotel in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Since then, the Company has acquired gaming assets in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Nevada, capped off by the 2007 purchase of Aztar Corp. and its widely known Tropicana brand name with properties in Nevada, Indiana and New Jersey.

The two companies employ more than 28,000 people in their hotels and casinos.