Consumer products industry veteran Thomas J. Kalinske to head new Education Technology management team.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 1996--Education Technology LLC, a company founded earlier this year to operate in all areas of the education marketplace, Monday announced that Thomas J. Kalinske, who as president and chief executive officer of Sega of America Inc., spearheaded the company's drive to market leadership in the interactive entertainment industry, will head the company's new management team as president effective Oct. 1.

"There has never been a more challenging and opportune time for the education industry," said Kalinske.

"Sweeping changes in the global economy have expanded the role of technology in classrooms and created new demand for cradle-to-grave learning in order to give everyone the skills and competencies they need to remain competitive. This presents an enormous potential for private-sector participation in the education industry.

"Education Technology will be dedicated to increasing the value of human capital and knowledge through a range of educational products and services -- from basic classroom innovations and distance learning to worker retraining and lifelong learning," he added. "The goal is to meet the education needs of people over their entire lifetimes -- from ages two to 80."

Kalinske brings a diversity of experience to Education Technology, whose founding was announced last spring by Larry Ellison, chairman and chief executive officer of Oracle Corp., and Michael R. Milken, chairman of the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate (CaP CURE). They are participating in the company in their individual capacities and not as part of any other ongoing concerns.

"Tom Kalinske is one of the most able and innovative executives in America today," said Ellison, noting that under Kalinske's leadership Sega of America grew in just six years from an 8 percent market share to more than 50 percent of the $4 billion interactive entertainment market.

Prior to joining Sega, Kalinske was president and chief executive officer of Mattel Inc. and Universal Matchbox Group. Among his achievements was the strategic rebuilding of Mattel's Barbie franchise from a small domestic product into a $550 million worldwide brand by the late 1980s, and growing Mattel into a global consumer products company with revenues in excess of $1 billion.

"Tom's experience in a range of different industries gives him a unique understanding of the critical role technology, entertainment and telecommunications can play in transforming the way we educate a population that is growing older and more diverse and more challenged by the forces of technology and global change," said Ellison, who is Education Technology's co-chairman with Milken.

"Tom Kalinske shares our long-held passion for improving the quality of our education system and for recognizing the significant role in our society which is played by those who educate our young people," said Milken, who cited Kalinske's founding of the Sega Foundation, a charitable trust that supports organizations making a critical difference in the health and education of children.

In addition, Kalinske is a member of the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education and has long been active in a range of other philanthropic efforts, including Pediatric AIDS.

"While I continue to focus much of my time to the fight in the war against cancer and my family's other philanthropic activities, Tom will provide the day-to-day leadership needed to help build a company dedicated to bringing innovative and thoughtful solutions to the world's educational needs," added Milken.

Kalinske announced that he will be joined in launching the new company by Executive Vice President Neil McCarthy and Senior Vice President Alan Epstein.

McCarthy is an executive with more than 20 years of experience in the entertainment and hospitality industries. His experience includes senior-level positions spanning both line operations and financial functions within several organizations, including Capitol-EMI Music, Falcon Cable Television, Orion Pictures, The Walt Disney Co. and Marriott Corp.

He holds an undergraduate degree in marketing from Villanova University and an MBA from St. John's University.

Epstein previously ran the West Coast office of The Walt Disney Co.'s real estate development subsidiary. Among other major development projects, Epstein designed and implemented Disney's corporate real estate planning system, and oversaw the planning and entitlement of a major expansion of Disney's studio lot in Burbank, Calif.

Previously, Epstein ran the internationally recognized transportation program for the 1984 Olympic Games. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds MBA and JD degrees from Stanford University.

"With Neil McCarthy and Alan Epstein, Education Technology now has in place a seasoned, solid and forward-looking management team," said Kalinske. "The next step is to identify companies that represent not just solid business opportunities but whose products and services can help meet the education needs of our population and the demands of corporations for a more flexible workforce."

Kalinske, 52, received his bachelor of science degree at the University of Wisconsin and his MBA at the University of Arizona. He is married and the father of five children who range in age from four to 20.

CONTACT: Education Technology, Los Angeles

Michael Reese, 310/440-1856