Handleman Company Names Robert E. Kirby President and Chief Operating Officer

Handleman Company Names Robert E. Kirby President and Chief Operating Officer

TROY, Mich., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Handleman Company (NYSE:HDL), http://www.handleman.com/ , today announced that Robert E. Kirby has joined the Company as its President and Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Kirby, age 50, joins Handleman with over 28 years of diverse management and executive responsibilities. For the past seven years Mr. Kirby worked for Johnson & Johnson, where his most recent position was President of Personal Products Company, a business that generates over a billion dollars in sales. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Kirby worked at Fort James Corporation, Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Proctor & Gamble Company. Throughout his career, he has maintained a strong focus on driving innovation, developing new products and go to market strategies that have grown from early identification of consumer insights and alignment with customer strategies.

Stephen Strome, Handleman Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "We are pleased to welcome Bob Kirby to Handleman Company. He has extensive experience in delivering a high level of customer service, managing and launching new products and brands, directing cost savings initiatives and enhancing supply chain management. He has successfully grown sales in a highly competitive market, and has led the merger of organizations to enhance supply chain efficiencies and reduce product development time. He will play a key role in maximizing the opportunities of recent acquisitions, and delivering on the Company's growth strategy of leveraging our core competencies to enable growth with existing and new customers, and into adjacent product categories, channels and markets."

Mr. Kirby added, "I am excited to be part of the leadership team of Handleman Company as it continues to consolidate the music distribution business and leverage its core competencies to grow its business with some of the world's leading retailers. We will focus on achieving further diversification of the Company's product lines and customer base through leveraging consumer insights and delighting our customers."

Mr. Kirby has a Bachelor's of Science Degree from the University of New Hampshire. He is married and has four children.

About Handleman Company:

Handleman Company is a category manager and distributor of prerecorded music and console video game hardware, software and accessories to leading retailers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. As a category manager, the Company manages a broad assortment of titles to optimize sales and inventory productivity in retail stores. Services offered include product selection, direct-to-store shipments, marketing and in-store merchandising.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Handleman Company

CONTACT: Greg Mize, Vice President, Investor Relations of Handleman
Company, +1-248-362-4400, Ext. 211

Web site: http://www.handleman.com/

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