Alltrista Corporation announced today that Thomas B. Clark, Chairman, President and Chief<br />Executive Officer and Kevin Bower, Chief Financial Officer had left the company<br />to pursue other interests. The Board recognized the contributions and efforts<br />that Mr. Clark and Mr. Bower had made to the Company since its spin off from<br />Ball Corporation in 1993.<br /><br />The Board appointed Martin E. Franklin as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer<br />and Ian G.H. Ashken as Vice Chairman, Chief Financial Officer and Company<br />Secretary.<br /><br /><br />Mr. Franklin, appointed to the Board of Alltrista in June 2001, has considerable<br />experience operating public companies. Mr. Franklin served as Chairman and Chief<br />Executive Officer of Benson Eyecare Corporation, an integrated optical products<br />company, from 1992 until its sale in 1996. From 1996 he served as executive<br />Chairman of the Benson Eyecare spin off companies, Lumen Technologies, Inc. and<br />Bolle Inc until their respective sales in 1998 and 2000. In addition to various<br />private company directorships, Mr. Franklin served on the board of directors of<br />Corporate Express, Inc. prior to its sale in 1999 and currently serves on the<br />board of directors of Specialty Catalog Corp. (Nasdaq: CTLG).<br /><br /><br />Mr. Ashken has worked with Mr. Franklin for over eleven years, serving as Chief<br />Financial Officer and a Director of Benson Eyecare Corporation, Lumen<br />Technologies Inc. and Bolle Inc. Mr. Ashken also has considerable experience as<br />a board member and operating manager of a number of private companies. Mr.<br />Ashken was appointed to the Board of Alltrista in June 2001.<br /><br /><br />Martin E. Franklin commented: "The challenges facing Alltrista in the short term<br />are considerable, particularly in the thermoformed products division, which has<br />been hardest hit by the current economic slowdown. However, we believe that the<br />Consumer Products and Zinc businesses have significant unrealized potential and<br />we will focus our efforts on growing these businesses as well as completing the<br />turnaround of the plastics division. We intend to concentrate on reducing costs,<br />improving margins and working with the Board to build shareholder value."<br /><br /><br />Alltrista is a materials-based company. Its plastics group serves numerous<br />fields, including healthcare, consumer, appliance, motor vehicle and industrial<br />markets. Through its metals group, Alltrista is the leading supplier of home<br />food preservation products, under the Ball(R), Kerr(R) and Bernardin(R) brands,<br />and is the country's largest producer of zinc strip and fabricated products,<br />including coin blanks for the U.S. and foreign mints. 