Valassis Named a 'Top 50 Company for Executive Women' by the National Association for Female Executives

LIVONIA, Mich., Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today that it has been named as one of the "Top 50 Companies for Executive Women" by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE). This is the first time Valassis has been named to this list.

The NAFE Top Companies survey evaluates companies on every aspect of women's advancement, including succession planning, profit-and-loss roles, gender pay parity, support programs, work/life balance programs and more. Valassis has also been named in the past among the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers and Best Companies for Hourly Workers by Working Mother magazine. NAFE is a division of Working Mother Media.

"It's an honor to have our name on this esteemed list which recognizes the importance we place on diversity and inclusion in the workplace," said Leslie Lenser, Valassis Senior Vice President of Human Resources. "We continually strive to make Valassis a workplace where every associate feels included, valued and respected, and believe it is imperative that we integrate diverse perspectives and insights in all aspects of our business."

Valassis places high importance on diversity and inclusion for all employees, and as part of the company's commitment, it launched the Valassis Women's Network (VWN), a resource providing information about the contributions of women in business, leadership advice, networking events and training opportunities to support employee growth and development.  VWN began based on Valassis' involvement with the Network of Executive Women (NEW).  Valassis is actively engaged with NEW, the largest diversity organization in the consumer packaged goods and retail industries, promoting diversity on all fronts of the corporate spectrum.

In addition, Valassis provides a host of convenient services, a testament to its strong focus on a culture where work/life balance is encouraged. Among these amenities are onsite workout facilities, discounts, health fairs/flu shots, dry cleaning and postal services, to name a few. 

Carol Evans, president of Working Mother Media and CEO, NAFE, says, "The NAFE Top 50 Companies are major employers that are committed to hiring, retaining and promoting executive women.  They represent a cross-section of companies that go way beyond lip service in helping women succeed. Almost seven out of 10 companies require their managers to receive training on how to hire, advance or manage women. Manager accountability is the main ingredient for success."

A newly released report revealed that women hold nearly one in four positions at the Top Companies (23%) overseeing divisions with more than $1 billion in revenue. The new report, conducted by the Working Mother Research Institute, also finds that women hold 23% of all board of director seats at the Top Companies compared with 16% across the Fortune 500.  

On March 30, 2012, NAFE will host its 40th annual gala awards luncheon in New York City. Suzie Brown, Valassis Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, will participate in a special Executive Women Roundtable event at the recognition ceremony. To honor the 40th anniversary of NAFE, the results of the NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women initiative will be published in Working Mother magazine's February/March 2012 issue; visit www.workingmother.com.

Methodology

The 2012 NAFE Top 50 Companies application includes more than 250 questions on topics including female representation, hiring, attrition and promotion rates, access and usage of key retention and advancement programs. The application draws particular attention to the number of women at the highest ranks and those with profit-and-loss responsibility. To be considered, companies must have a minimum of two women on their board of directors as well as at least 500 employees in the United States.

About Valassis

Valassis is one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, offering unparalleled reach and scale to more than 15,000 advertisers. Its RedPlum® media portfolio delivers value on a weekly basis to over 100 million shoppers across a multi-media platform – in-home, in-store and in-motion. Through its digital offerings, including redplum.com and save.com, consumers can find compelling national and local deals. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with approximately 7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries, Valassis is widely recognized for its associate and corporate citizenship programs, including its America's Looking for Its Missing Children® program. Valassis companies include Valassis Direct Mail, Inc., Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC and NCH Marketing Services, Inc.  For more information, visit http://www.valassis.com, http://www.redplum.com and http://www.save.com. To learn about advertising opportunities with RedPlum, please call 1-800-437-0479.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following: price competition from our existing competitors; new competitors in any of our businesses; a shift in client preference for different promotional materials, strategies or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a result of declines in newspaper circulation; an unforeseen increase in paper or postal costs; changes which affect the businesses of our clients and lead to reduced sales promotion spending, including, without limitation, a decrease of marketing budgets which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in the short-term than other expenses; our substantial indebtedness, and ability to refinance such indebtedness, if necessary, and our ability to incur additional indebtedness, may affect our financial health; the financial condition, including bankruptcies, of our clients, suppliers, senior secured credit facility lenders or other counterparties; certain covenants in our debt documents could adversely restrict our financial and operating flexibility; fluctuations in the amount, timing, pages, weight and kinds of advertising pieces from period to period, due to a change in our clients' promotional needs, inventories and other factors; our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel may affect our business and results of operations; a rise in interest rates could increase our borrowing costs; possible governmental regulation or litigation affecting aspects of our business; clients experiencing financial difficulties, or otherwise being unable to meet their obligations as they become due, could affect our results of operations and financial condition; uncertainty in the application and interpretation of applicable state sales tax laws may expose us to additional sales tax liability; and general economic conditions, whether nationally, internationally, or in the market areas in which we conduct our business, including the adverse impact of the ongoing economic downturn on the marketing expenditures and activities of our clients and prospective clients as well as our vendors, with whom we rely on to provide us with quality materials at the right prices and in a timely manner. These and other risks and uncertainties related to our business are described in greater detail in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and the foregoing information should be read in conjunction with these filings.  We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Valassis

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