Carlson has announced that its board of directors has
appointed Hubert Joly as the company’s new president and chief executive
officer, effective March 1, 2008.Joly currently serves as president and chief executive officer of
Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), the world’s leading travel management
company, which is 55% owned by Carlson. Under his leadership, CWT has grown
its sales from $8.9 billion (USD) in 2003 to about $22 billion (USD) in
2007. He becomes Carlson’s fourth CEO in the company’s 70-year history,
succeeding company co-owner and internationally recognized business leader
Marilyn Carlson Nelson, who will continue as Carlson’s chairman of the
board.

  “After an extensive internal and external search, our board of
directors unanimously agreed that Hubert has the business acumen,
leadership qualities and global experience to lead our company to the next
level of growth and excellence,” Nelson said. “We are extremely pleased and
proud that Hubert has accepted the opportunity to carry forward Carlson’s
strategy to expand our brands and operations around the world.”

  The search committee was composed of Lead Director and Search Committee
Chair Lawrence Perlman, Board member Edwin C. “Skip” Gage and Board member
Diana Nelson.

  Speaking on behalf of the Board, Perlman said, “This was one of the
most extensive and thorough search processes I have ever been involved in.
We set clear criteria for our next CEO, including global experience and
mindset, proven business success and leadership skill. Hubert was the ideal
candidate in all of these areas.”

  In comments to employees today, Joly said, “I am honored to have been
chosen for this role. I am impressed with the Carlson legacy—its
portfolio of brands, its values, its culture and its growth opportunities.
I look forward to working with Marilyn and the board on seizing these
opportunities. Leading this great family owned company will be a distinct
privilege.”

  Joly noted that under Nelson’s leadership, Carlson has grown into a
global giant whose brands and services employ nearly 200,000 people around
the world. The company owns or manages 1,000 restaurants and nearly 1,000
hotels (including franchise operations), and has become the leading travel
management company in the world. Nelson has been a staunch supporter of the
travel industry. After the Sept. 11, 2001, crisis, she and other Carlson
executives met with congressional and Bush administration advisors to call
attention to the plight of the travel and tourism industry, which had
suffered greatly since the Sept. 11 attacks. Nelson also has emphasized
business integrity during her leadership tenure at Carlson. In 2007,
Carlson received a Corporate Social Responsibility Award from the Foreign
Policy Association.

  Nelson and Joly indicated that the Carlson Wagonlit Travel board has
initiated a search for the future CEO of CWT.

  Joly was appointed as the president and CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel
in July 2004. CWT is a world leader in business travel management, with
about $22 billion (USD) in sales and 22,000 employees in more than 150
countries. Joly came to CWT from Vivendi Universal, where he was a member
of the executive team that led the company’s recovery, serving as executive
vice president with responsibility for overseeing the company’s U.S.
assets. Previously, Joly was CEO of Vivendi Universal Games, the video
games division of Vivendi Universal, headquartered in Los Angeles. Before
joining Vivendi, Joly worked in the technology sector from 1996 to 1999 as
vice president of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Europe and president of EDS
France. Prior to joining EDS, he spent 12 years in consulting with McKinsey
& Company, based in San Francisco, New York, Tokyo and Paris. As a partner,
he specialized in the high-tech sector.

  Born and raised in France, Joly spent seven years working in the United
States, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and has traveled
extensively around the world in his diverse functions, working across
geographic and cultural boundaries. Joly and his family look forward to
moving to Minneapolis and becoming a part of the community.

  “The board was very impressed with Hubert’s outstanding results at
Carlson Wagonlit Travel. After interviewing several internal and external
candidates, we are all extraordinarily pleased to have such a strong leader
from inside the Carlson enterprise,” said Gage, board member and Carlson
family member.

  “The Board of Directors and the Carlson family have known Hubert for
some time, and we have great confidence in his abilities,” said Diana
Nelson, a Carlson Board member, Curtis L. Carlson Family Foundation trustee
and granddaughter of company founder Curtis Carlson. “We are proud of the
success that has characterized Carlson’s first 70 years, and we believe
that Hubert is the leader who can build our future success.”

  Carlson is a global group of connected companies, providing travel,
hotel, restaurant and marketing services directly to consumers,
corporations and government entities. Carlson is on Working Mother
magazine’s 2001-2004 and 2006-2007 lists of “The Best Companies for Working
Mothers,” and Fortune magazine’s 2002 list of “The 100 Best Companies to
Work For.” In 2006 and 2007, Carlson was named one of the “Best Places to
Work for GLBT Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign.

  Carlson’s history is one of the classic business success stories in the
American free enterprise system. Starting in 1938 with an idea and a $55
loan, entrepreneur Curtis L. Carlson (1914-1999) founded the Gold Bond
Stamp Company in his home town of Minneapolis. He knew that grocery stores,
drug stores, gas stations and other independent merchants could use stamps
to drive customer loyalty and to distinguish themselves from their
competitors. During the 1950s and 1960s, Gold Bond and sister company, Top
Value Stamps, helped revolutionize the way retail goods were marketed.
Trading stamps proved to be right for the times and swept the nation in a
wave of dramatic growth.

  In the late 1960s, when the trading stamp market reached its peak, the
Gold Bond Stamp Company expanded into the hospitality industry. In the
1970s, the company acquired dozens of additional businesses, including
T.G.I. Friday’s and the internationally renowned Ask Mr. Foster travel
agencies. To reflect its diversification, Gold Bond changed its name to
Carlson Companies in 1973, and since 2006, to demonstrate that it is one
company serving a variety of needs, it has become known as Carlson.
——-