Contact: Brian Sansoni, The Soap and Detergent Association, 202-662-2517, Bsansoni@cleaning101.com

Unilever’s Alan Jope Elected as SDA Board Chair

Access Business Group Executive George Calvert Elected Vice Chair;
Ecolab’s John Forsythe Welcomed as New Director

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 9, 2005 – Alan Jope, Chief Operating Officer of Unilever Home and Personal Care – North America, is the new Chair of The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) Board of Directors. He was elected to a one-year term by the Board at SDA’s 79^th Annual Meeting & Industry Convention in Boca Raton, Florida.

Jope succeeds Stanley W. Silverman, President & CEO, PQ Corporation.

Succeeding Jope as the new Board Vice Chair is George D. Calvert, Vice President, Research and Development, Quality Assurance Division, Access Business Group, a subsidiary of Alticor Inc.

During SDA’s Annual Meeting, members elected two dozen senior level executives to serve on the Board of Directors. Newly elected to the Board is John G. Forsythe, Senior Vice President - Public Affairs and Chief Tax Officer, Ecolab Inc.

The complete list of 2005 Directors, all whom were elected to one-year terms, includes:

• George D. Calvert, Vice President, Research and Development, Quality Assurance Division, Access Business Group (www.accessbusinessgroup.com)
• Francis X. Sherman, General Manager, Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry (www.akzonobel.com)
• Steven Cugine, President, Household Products Division, Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (www.churchdwight.com)
• Catherine Ehrenberger, Head of Business Line, Home & Personal Care, Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation (www.cibasc.com)
• Larry S. Peiros, Group Vice President ~ Household Products Segment, The Clorox Company (www.thecloroxcompany.com)
• Mark Leonard, Vice President, Care Chemicals, Cognis Corporation NA (www.cognis.com)
• Seamus McBride, President, Colgate-Palmolive Company - U.S. (www.colpal.com)
• James L. Jackson, President, DeSoto, L.L.C. (desoto_llc@dsosuds.com)
• Pam Butcher, Business Vice President, Specialty Chemicals, The Dow Chemical Company (www.dow.com)
• John G. Forsythe, Senior Vice President-Public Affairs and Chief Tax Officer, Ecolab Inc. (www.ecolab.com)
• Thomas J. Pekich, Group Vice President, Bioproducts, Genencor International, Inc. (www.genencor.com)
• Reinhold Brand, President, Goldschmidt Chemical Corporation (www.goldschmidt.com)
• Elizabeth Harvey, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Personal Care, Branded Commercial Markets and Industrial Chemicals, Henkel – The Dial Corporation – A Henkel Company (www.dialcorp.com)
• Jane M. Hutterly, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Corporate & Environmental Affairs, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (www.scjohnson.com)
• Gregory Clark, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain, JohnsonDiversey (www.johnsondiversey.com)
• Neal Briggi, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, North America, Novozymes (www.novozymes.com)
• Dimitri Panayotopoulos, Group President, Global Fabric Care, The Procter & Gamble Company (www.pg.com)
• Javed Ahmed, Executive Vice President, North America and Australia, and Regional Director, North American Household, Reckitt Benckiser Inc. (www.reckitt.com).
• Herman C. Mihalich, Vice President /Global Director, Home Care, Rhodia Inc. (www.rhodia.com)
• Charles F. Putnik, President, Sasol North America, Inc. (www.sasol.com)
• David G. Naugle, Vice President, Higher Olefins & Derivatives, Shell Chemical LP (www.shellchemicals.com)
• June A. Stahl, President, Stahl Soap Corporation (www.stahlsoap.com)
• F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., President & COO, Stepan Company (www.stepan.com)
• Alan Jope, COO, Unilever Home & Personal Care – North America (www.unilever.com)

In addition to Chairman Jope and Vice Chairman Calvert, the SDA Board re-elected the following Association officers: Ernie Rosenberg, SDA President and CEO; Robert Bartlett, Bradford Soap Works (www.bradfordsoap.com), Treasurer; and Beth Olson, SDA Vice President of Administration and General Counsel, Corporate Secretary.

“SDA is able to serve as the home of the U.S. cleaning product and oleochemical industries because of the executive leadership that we have represented on our Board of Directors,” said Rosenberg. “The diversity that we have among formulator and ingredient supplier members is one of our major strengths in SDA remaining as the voice of our industry.”

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The Soap and Detergent Association (www.cleaning101.com) is the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Products and Oleochemical Industries^SM, represents manufacturers of household, industrial, and institutional cleaning products; their ingredients; and finished packaging; and oleochemical producers. SDA members produce more than 90 percent of the cleaning products marketed in the U.S. The SDA is located at 1500 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005