New CEO, CFO Named for Turf Care Supply

Platinum Equity announced recently that William Milowitz has been appointed as chief executive officer for Turf Care Supply Corp., and Richard Nihei has been appointed chief financial officer for the new company. Turf Care Supply Corp. manufactures and distributes professional turf care products and supplies. The newly created company was established by Platinum Equity in October 2005 as a result of the acquisition of substantially all of the supply chain and distribution assets of LESCO.

Milowitz comes to Turf Care from Duro Industries, a manufacturer and distributor of textile products, where he has been a senior executive since 2001. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and chief operating officer of Consoltex Holdings, one of the largest textile manufacturers in North America, and president and CEO of the company's U.S. affiliate.

"William is a talented leader with significant experience managing the manufacturing and distribution operations of large businesses," said Rob Joubran, chief operating officer and treasurer at Platinum Equity. "We are very pleased to have him at the helm as we launch the Turf Care Supply business."

Nihei is the former senior vice president and chief financial officer for Terry's Tire Town, one of the Midwest's largest distributors of automobile tires and parts. Previously, he was vice president for finance and chief financial officer for Weatherchem Corp., which provides packaging solutions to the food, pharmaceutical, vitamin and household markets.

Turf Care Supply produces fertilizer, seed and combination products for the professional turf care industry. Under a long-term supply agreement with LESCO Inc., it will continue to supply products under the LESCO brand name to that company's customers. In addition, Turf Care expects over time to diversify its customer base and product lines.

Milowitz said he expects Turf Care Supply to thrive as a standalone company.
"All of the fundamentals are in place," he said. "We have very strong manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, headed by executives who came over as part of the LESCO transition, and we're going to build a world-class sales organization to grow this business."

As part of its diversification strategy, Turf Care recently introduced an outsource offering that leverages the company's manufacturing resources and national distribution network.

"We have the capabilities to become the premier outsource provider in this industry," said Frank Vetter, chief operating officer for Turf Care Supply. "Our LESCO products are widely recognized as the highest quality products in the industry, our manufacturing facilities are capable of producing products at any level of specialization and scale, our distribution infrastructure spans the entire country, and we're able to manufacture at a very competitive cost. As an outsource provider, we bring a compelling value proposition to the marketplace."

In addition to its new outsource offering, the company has also announced future plans to introduce a Turf Care-branded line of products and expand the geographic footprint of its national distribution network by opening new facilities in Dallas and Chicago.