Mark R. Lomele Elected Chair of The ESOP Association

Members Installed to Board Positions

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mark R. Lomele, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Recology located in San Francisco, California, has been elected to serve as Chair of The ESOP Association.  The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and the leading voice in America for employee ownership.

Mr. Lomele is an active member of The ESOP Association and the California/Western States Chapter.  He has served as Vice Chair of The ESOP Association for the last two years.

The Recology operating companies provide collection, recycling, and disposal services to homes and businesses in California and Oregon. Recology is the parent company to over three-dozen subsidiaries serving more than 50 communities and is the largest employee-owned company in the industry, providing services to more than 600,000 residential and 60,000 commercial customers.  For more information: http://www.recology.com.

"Mark has been active in the ESOP community and with the Association in particular for many years," said J. Michael Keeling, President of The ESOP Association.  "His contributions have increased the effectiveness of Association services, and we are excited Mark will be the Chief Elected Officer of the Association and the primary driver of the Association's mission to advocate and educate for employee ownership."

In addition to Mark Lomele's election to Chair, David Kelly, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Acadian Ambulance Service, Inc., Lafayette, LA, has been elected to the position of Vice Chair.  Cindy Turcot, Chief Operating Officer of Gardener's Supply Company, Burlington, VT will become Secretary/Treasurer of the Association.  As an At-Large Board Member representing a professional member, Pamela T. Hill, Vice President of Commerce Bank, N.A., Kansas City, MO will join the Board.  Returning Board members are: Ellis E. Moseley, Executive Vice President and CFO of FREEMAN, Dallas, TX; Karen Ng, Partner at Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP, San Francisco, CA; Frieda S. Takaki, President/CEO of CHART Rehabilitation of Hawaii, Inc., Honolulu, HI; Caryn Siebert, President/CEO, Carl Warren & Company, Placentia, CA; Carey Chen, Vice President and CFO, Hypertherm, Inc., Hanover, NH; and Lonnie Peppler-Moyer, President and Publisher, Monroe Publishing Company, Monroe, MI.

The Board of Directors is the premier governing body of The ESOP Association.  Seven members of its ten person Board of Directors are elected by the Association's Board of Governors who are elected by Association members.

The core cause of The ESOP Association is the belief that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation, and strengthen our free enterprise economy.

SOURCE The ESOP Association