Auto Parts and Accessories Leader, JC Whitney Names Joe Risch Vice President of Merchandising

Chicago, IL–July, 2006–JC Whitney, the nation’s leading direct marketer of aftermarket auto parts and accessories announces that Joe Risch has joined the company as the new Vice President of Merchandising. He replaces Gene Geiger, who is retiring.

Risch is a well-known figure in the automotive world with over 25 years of merchandising experience at the Pep Boys. His last position there was Assistant Vice President of Merchandising Enhancement. Risch was responsible for improving results in many of Pep Boys lines of business. Since 2005, he has been General Manager of the automotive division of Sitoa Corp, a privately held technology company that connects suppliers to retailers in the e-commerce workplace.

About JC Whitney & Co
Established in 1915, JC Whitney & Co. is the largest direct marketer of name-brand automotive parts and accessories, providing "everything automotive" with more than 1.3 million items covering more than 25 million automotive applications from the latest model year back to the 1920s. JC Whitney offers products for virtually any vehicle — automobiles, trucks, Jeeps, motorcycles, sports compact cars, and more — through its comprehensive family of general and vehicle-specific catalogs and on the World Wide Web at www.jcwhitney.com, www.carparts.com, and www.installpro.net.