Valassis President and Chief Executive Officer Receives Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Michigan and Northwest Ohio Region

LIVONIA, Mich., June 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced today that Alan F. Schultz, Valassis Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Michigan and Northwest Ohio region. Schultz received the award on Thursday, June 9, 2011 as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Entrepreneur of the Year program.  Recognized globally, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs, and honors outstanding entrepreneurs who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. The program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities and more than 50 countries throughout the world. As the Michigan/Northwest Ohio winner in the Turnaround category, Schultz is now a candidate for the National Entrepreneur of the Year award, which will be announced at the annual Ernst & Young awards event in November 2011 in Palm Springs, California.

"It has been my privilege to serve the more than 7,000 Valassis employees who have created our unique culture that makes this award possible," said Alan F. Schultz, Valassis Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).  "Like everything we do at Valassis, we are all in it together.  We have created a culture that values innovation, risk-taking and provides more value to consumers than anyone in the world."

Schultz values an employee-focused, inclusive culture.  Valassis won 12 culture awards in 2010, including InformationWeek 500 Top Technology Innovators, FORTUNE magazine's list of the "100 Fastest-Growing Companies" and numerous "top workplace" designations. In addition, Valassis has a culture of "giving back" to the community. Through a 26-year-partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the company has donated over $450 million in media with our "Have You Seen Me?®" program featuring photos of missing children on our products. Over 43,000 leads have been generated and of the more than 2,400 children featured in our photo program, more than 1,300 have been recovered through this and other efforts.  

Schultz has been Chairman, President and CEO of Valassis since 1998.  Under his leadership, Valassis has nearly quadrupled revenues, significantly diversified its customer base and product portfolio and evolved into a $2 billion plus global marketing services powerhouse.  Today, the company offers blended media solutions to over 15,000 advertisers in a wide-variety of industries.   In 2007, Schultz led the company through a $1.2 billion acquisition and integration of ADVO, Inc., the nation's leading direct mail media company. The successful integration and significant improvements to this business have contributed greatly to the company's strong financial performance.  

Schultz currently serves on the Board of Directors of DexOne, Business Leaders For Michigan, and The University of Michigan – Dearborn College of Business Board of Advisors, and previously served on the Board of Directors for The Ad Council and The American Advertising Federation. He is regarded as an industry pioneer in building convergence among the promotion and advertising industries. A native of Michigan, Schultz currently resides in Northville, Michigan with his wife, Eva; they have two sons and three grandsons.

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; we may be required to recognize additional impairment charges against goodwill and intangible assets in the future; 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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