Sara Lee Corporation Creates Global Marketing & Sales Role.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2003

Lee Chaden to Head Global Marketing & Sales for Corporation

Lois Huggins Promoted to Vice President, Human Resources 

Sara Lee Corporation announced today that it has established a global marketing and sales position, a further step in the company's program to strengthen strategic marketing and sales practices throughout Sara Lee, and has named Lee A. Chaden to this important new role. Sara Lee also announced the appointment of Lois M. Huggins to vice president of human resources. Chaden and Huggins will assume these new responsibilities immediately.

In addition, Chaden, 61, and Huggins, 41, are expected to be elected to executive vice president and vice president of the corporation, respectively, in May at the company's next regularly scheduled meeting of its board of directors. Both executives will report to C. Steven McMillan, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Sara Lee Corporation.

Chaden, who currently serves in the dual role of senior vice president of human resources for the corporation and head of the Office of Brand Equity Development, has more than 35 years of experience in brand marketing and operational leadership. In the last 18 months, Sara Lee has significantly increased its commitment to marketing, while also targeting its resources on its key brands to deliver long-term top-line growth. In his new role, Chaden will focus on increasing Sara Lee's effectiveness in serving its customers and in meeting consumer needs.

Chaden joined Sara Lee in 1991 as president of the U.S. and Westfar divisions of Playtex Apparel, Inc., which Sara Lee acquired that year. He was named president and chief executive officer of Sara Lee Intimates in 1994, was elected a vice president of Sara Lee Corporation in 1995 and became a senior vice president in 1998. Chaden was promoted to chief executive officer of Sara Lee Branded Apparel - Europe in 1999, and was appointed to his most recent position in 2001.

Chaden began his career with Procter & Gamble in 1966 in brand management and joined Playtex's apparel division in 1970 as a senior product manager. He served in various marketing and general management positions for Playtex for several years, both in North America and in Europe. Chaden joined Marketing Corporation of America, a leading marketing services company, as a partner in 1979. He also held leadership positions at General Consumer Electronics, Interac Corporation and Marketcorp Ventures before returning to Playtex in 1991.

Chaden earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University and a master of business administration degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

With 15 years experience in human resources and executive development roles, Huggins currently serves as head of organization development and diversity. She joined Sara Lee in 1987 as a store manager of its Coach leatherware division. She quickly moved into a human resources role, serving as a recruiter and holding a variety of human resources positions of increasing responsibility at Coach, including managing the division's human resources for operations and serving as vice president of organization development and change management. In 1997, Huggins was promoted to divisional vice president, human resources, for Sara Lee Intimate Apparel, and in 2000, she moved to the corporate office to lead organization development and diversity, overseeing succession planning, executive development and diversity for the corporation.

Huggins earned a bachelor's degree in English and drama from Franklin and Marshall College.

In further human resources changes, Herman G. Bouwman, a vice president of Sara Lee Corporation responsible for human resources, legal affairs and communications for Sara Lee/DE, the corporation's Dutch affiliate that manages Sara Lee's worldwide Coffee & Tea, Household & Body Care and Direct Selling activities, will expand his corporate human resources responsibilities. Specifically, Bouwman, 50, will lead the company's new human resources shared services center in Europe, which supports all of Sara Lee Corporation's European operations and allows the company to leverage its scale and share best practices in regard to a variety of activities, including compensation and benefits, training and development, diversity and inclusion, and recruiting. Bouwman will report to C. Steven McMillan on the European human resources shared services function, and he will continue to report to Sara Lee/DE management on issues related specifically to those businesses.

In addition, Bouwman and Huggins will co-chair the company's global human resources steering committee, a group of senior human resources executives that is charged with addressing a variety of human resources issues throughout the company.

Sara Lee Corporation (www.saralee.com) is one of the world's leading branded consumer packaged goods companies, selling its products in nearly 200 countries. The company has three global businesses - Food and Beverage, Intimates and Underwear, and Household Products - through which it manufactures and markets products of exceptional quality and value under leading, well-known brand names such as Sara Lee, Earth Grains, Jimmy Dean, Douwe Egberts, Chock full o'Nuts, Hanes, Playtex, Bali, Dim, Kiwi, Ambi-Pur and Sanex.