La-Z-Boy Incorporated Elects Helen Petrauskas To Board Of Directors

Furniture World Magazine

La-Z-Boy Incorporated announced that it has elected Ford Motor Company executive Helen O. Petrauskas to its board of directors. Petrauskas is currently the vice president of environmental and safety engineering at Ford and was elected to the ten member board during the annual shareholders meeting, held July 31, 2000. The election of Petrauskas marks the first time a woman has occupied a seat on the La-Z-Boy board of directors. "Helen is a seasoned and savvy executive who brings with her a wealth of experience in environmental law and international business, among many other things," stated Patrick H. Norton, chairman of La-Z-Boy Incorporated. "She is an excellent addition to the board." At present, Petrauskas sits on the boards of the Sherwin-Williams Company and MCN Energy Inc. Additionally, she is a member of the advisory board of the Center for Risk Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. In her almost 30-year career with Ford Motor Company, Petrauskas has held positions of increasing importance and responsibility. She joined the company in 1971 as a staff attorney in the Office of the General Counsel. From 1977 to 1979, she was associate counsel on emissions, leading to her 1980 appointment to director of the Automotive Emissions and Fuel Economy Office for Ford. In 1983, Petrauskas was elected a Ford vice president. Additional career accomplishments include having served as a senior staff member on the President's Council on Environmental Quality, as well as a U.S. representative on the board of trustees of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, Hungary. "We searched extensively for the best person to fill the vacant seat on the board," said Norton. "Helen embodies all the qualities and experience that we require of our board members." Ms. Petrauskas is 56 years old and holds both a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a juris doctorate from Detroit's Wayne State University, where she was graduated magna cum laude. At the annual shareholders meeting, the board voted also to re-elect both Frederick H. (Fritz) Jackson, executive vice president of finance at La-Z-Boy, and Patrick Norton, to three-year terms. Headquartered in Monroe, Mich., La-Z-Boy Incorporated is the nation's largest manufacturer of upholstered furniture and the world's leading producer of reclining chairs. With annual sales in excess of $2 billion, the company employs approximately 21,000 people, has 57 manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada and Europe, and operates through eleven independent divisions: La-Z-Boy Residential, La-Z-Boy Business Furniture Group, Hammary Furniture Company, Kincaid Furniture Company, Alexvale Furniture, Inc., England/Corsair, Inc., La-Z-Boy Canada, Centurion Furniture PLC, Sam Moore Furniture Industries, Bauhaus USA Inc. and LADD Furniture, Inc. Shares of La-Z-Boy Incorporated common stock are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Pacific Stock Exchange under the symbol LZB.