Executive Chairman of the Board & Head of Corporate Development

Stuart A. Rose was appointed our Executive Chairman of the Board and Head of Corporate Development in 2015. Mr. Rose had served as our Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since our incorporation in 1984 as a holding company. Mr. Rose ceased to be our Chief Executive Officer in 2015. Prior to 1984, Mr. Rose was Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Rex Radio and Television, Inc., which he founded in 1980 to acquire the stock of a corporation which operated four retail stores.

Chief Executive Officer

Zafar Rizvi was appointed our Chief Executive Officer and a director in 2015. Mr. Rizvi has been our President and Chief Operating Officer since 2010, was Vice President from 2006 to 2010, and has been President of Farmers Energy Incorporated, our alternative energy investment subsidiary, since 2006. From 1991 to 2006, Mr. Rizvi was Vice President—Loss Prevention.

Secretary & Director

Edward M. Kress has been our Secretary since 1984 and a director since 1985. Mr. Kress has been a partner of the law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP (formerly Chernesky, Heyman & Kress P.L.L.), our legal counsel, since 1988. Mr. Kress has practiced law in Dayton, Ohio since 1974.

Lead Director

David S. Harris has been a director since 2004 and Lead Director since 2015. Mr. Harris has served as Chief Operating Officer of Seven Oaks Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, since December 2020; and as President of Grant Capital, Inc., a private investment company, since 2002. During 2001, Mr. Harris served as a Managing Director in the investment banking division of ABN Amro Securities LLC (ABN). From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Harris served as a Managing Director and Sector Head of the Retail, Consumer and Leisure Group of ING Barings LLC (ING). The investment banking operations of ING were acquired by ABN in 2001. From 1986 to 1997 Mr. Harris served in various capacities as a member of the investment banking group of Furman Selz LLC. Furman Selz was acquired by ING in 1997. Mr. Harris is a director of Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. where he is Chairman of the Compensation Committee and serves on the Audit Committee. Mr. Harris was a director of Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. from 2018 to January, 2020 in connection with Jefferies Financial Group’s ownership interest in Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. Prior to its sale in 2015, Mr. Harris was a director of Steiner Leisure Limited where he served on the Audit Committee and was Chairman of its Compensation Committee.

Director

Charles A. Elcan has been a director since 2003. Mr. Elcan has served as a partner of Frisco Partners since 2017. Mr. Elcan was previously a founder of, and President until 2017 of, China Healthcare Corporation, organized in 2008 to build and operate hospitals in China. Mr. Elcan was Executive Vice President—Medical Office Properties of Health Care Property Investors, Inc. (HCP), a real estate investment trust specializing in health care related real estate, from 2003 to 2008, and served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of MedCap Properties, LLC, a real estate company located in Nashville, Tennessee that owned, operated and developed real estate in the healthcare field, from 1998 to 2003. (HCP acquired MedCap Properties in 2003.) From 1992 to 1997, Mr. Elcan was a founder and investor in Behavioral Healthcare Corporation (now Ardent Health Services LLC), a healthcare company that owns and operates acute care hospitals.

Director

Mervyn L. Alphonso has been a director since 2007. Mr. Alphonso retired as Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer of Central State University in 2007, a position he held since 2004. Mr. Alphonso has over 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He was President, Dayton District, KeyBank National Association from 1994 to 2000 and held various management positions with KeyBank of New York, N.A., and Crocker National Bank and Bankers Trust Company. Mr. Alphonso served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 2001 to 2003.

Director

Lee Fisher has been a director since 2011. Mr. Fisher was appointed Dean of Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 2017. He is also the Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law. Prior to his appointment as Dean, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of CEOs for Cities, a non-profit national organization of urban leaders focused on revitalizing American cities, and currently serves on the National Advisory Council of Forward Cities, the successor organization to CEOs for Cities. Mr. Fisher is also a Senior Fellow with the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University and an Urban Scholar with the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Mr. Fisher served as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio from 2007 to 2011, including as Director of the Ohio Department of Development and Chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission. Mr. Fisher was a director of REX from 1996 to 2006. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Families and Children, a private non-profit human services organization, from 1999 to 2006. Mr. Fisher was a partner in the law firm of Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP from 1995 to 1999, served as Ohio Attorney General from 1991 to 1995, State Senator and State Representative, Ohio General Assembly, from 1981 to 1990, and practiced law with Hahn Loeser & Parks from 1978 to 1990. Mr. Fisher was formerly a director of OfficeMax Incorporated.

Director

Anne MacMillan has been a director since 2019. Ms. MacMillan has been a partner with Invariant GR since 2016, where she manages Invariant’s food, agriculture and trade practice, leveraging nearly 20 years of substantive policy experience from serving in the House of Representatives, the United States Department of Agriculture, and in corporate America. Ms. MacMillan served as the Director of Government Affairs for the Wonderful Company, a multi-billion dollar farming and consumer packaged goods company, from 2014-2016. Prior to that, Ms. MacMillan was at the United States Department of Agriculture, serving as Senior Advisor from 2010-2012, and as Deputy Chief of Staff from 2012-2014 where she developed and implemented the Agency’s regulatory agenda and managed key policy staff. Ms. MacMillan started her career on Capitol Hill with the late Bob Matsui (D-CA) and spent several years as the Legislative Director to Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), managing his Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee work in addition to assisting with his leadership of the Blue Dog Coalition. Ms. McMillan then served as a senior policy advisor for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for the last two years of the Speaker’s first speakership. In this capacity, Ms. MacMillan managed all issues pertaining to agriculture and rural America, amongst other key priorities. Anne is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego and received her Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University Law School.