OREANDA-NEWS. Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) today announced that Mary Meixelsperger will join its wholly owned subsidiary, Valvoline Inc., as chief financial officer, effective June 20, 2016. She will report to Valvoline Chief Executive Officer Sam Mitchell and will be based at Valvoline's global headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky.

In this new role, Ms. Meixelsperger will be responsible for Valvoline's global financial organization, including financial accounting and reporting, treasury and finance, insurance, business development, planning and analysis, investor relations, tax and internal audit activities.

Since May 2014, Ms. Meixelsperger has served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW), a leading branded footwear and accessories retailer which operates 480 stores in 42 states, as well as dsw.com, a fully managed e-commerce site. Prior to joining DSW, she served as chief financial officer, controller and treasurer at Shopko Stores from 2005 to 2014. Before Shopko, Ms. Meixelsperger was the chief financial officer for two non-profit organizations from 1993-2004 and served as the chief financial officer for Worldmark Group , a private equity firm, from 1986-1991. She began her career in public accounting at Arthur Young and Co. She earned her bachelor's degree with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"We are delighted to welcome Mary to the Valvoline leadership team," said Mitchell. "We believe her significant leadership and management experience within the retail industry, coupled with her strategic planning expertise, will be important assets in this new role. We look forward to Mary's contributions leading our global finance organization."

Added William Wulfsohn, Ashland chairman and chief executive officer: "Mary is a highly regarded executive with proven success in building and leading a high-performance financial organization. Her hiring reflects another important step forward as we prepare to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies."   

"Valvoline is one of the most recognized and respected premium brands in the global automotive lubricant industry, with a heritage spanning 150 years and a reputation for high- quality products and superior levels of service," said Ms. Meixelsperger. "This is an exciting time for the organization and I look forward to joining the Valvoline team and working together to build on that success."

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Ashland has identified some of these forward-looking statements with words such as "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "estimates," "is likely," "predicts," "projects," "forecasts," "objectives," "may," "will," "should," "plans" and "intends" and the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to status of the separation process, the plan to pursue an IPO of up to 20 percent of the common stock of Valvoline and the expected completion of the separation through the subsequent distribution of Valvoline common stock, the anticipated timing of completion of the planned IPO and subsequent distribution of the remaining Valvoline common stock, the plan to reorganize under a new public holding company to be called Ashland Global Holdings Inc. and Ashland's and Valvoline's ability to pursue their long-term strategies. In addition, Ashland may from time to time make forward-looking statements in its annual report, quarterly reports and other filings with the SEC, news releases and other written and oral communications. These forward-looking statements are based on Ashland's expectations and assumptions, as of the date such statements are made, regarding Ashland's future operating performance and financial condition, including the proposed separation of its specialty chemicals and Valvoline businesses, the proposed IPO of its Valvoline business, the expected timetable for completing the IPO and the separation, the proposal to reorganize under a new holding company, the future financial and operating performance of each company, strategic and competitive advantages of each company, the leadership of each company, and future opportunities for each company, as well as the economy and other future events or circumstances. Ashland's expectations and assumptions include, without limitation, internal forecasts and analyses of current and future market conditions and trends, management plans and strategies, operating efficiencies and economic conditions (such as prices, supply and demand, cost of raw materials, and the ability to recover raw-material cost increases through price increases), and risks and uncertainties associated with the following: the possibility that the proposed IPO, new holding company reorganization or separation will not be consummated within the anticipated time period or at all, including as the result of regulatory, market or other factors or the failure to obtain shareholder approval of the new holding company reorganization; the potential for disruption to Ashland's business in connection with the proposed IPO, new holding company reorganization or separation; the potential that the new Ashland and Valvoline do not realize all of the expected benefits of the proposed IPO, new holding company reorganization or separation or obtain the expected credit ratings following the proposed IPO, new holding company reorganization or separation; Ashland's substantial indebtedness (including the possibility that such indebtedness and related restrictive covenants may adversely affect Ashland's future cash flows, results of operations, financial condition and its ability to repay debt); the impact of acquisitions and/or divestitures Ashland has made or may make (including the possibility that Ashland may not realize the anticipated benefits from such transactions); severe weather, natural disasters, and legal proceedings and claims (including environmental and asbestos matters). Various risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those stated, projected or implied by any forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties affecting Ashland that are described in its most recent Form 10-K and its Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2016 (including Item 1A Risk Factors) filed with the SEC, which is available on Ashland's website athttp://investor.ashland.com or on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. Ashland believes its expectations and assumptions are reasonable, but there can be no assurance that the expectations reflected herein will be achieved. Unless legally required, Ashland undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release whether as a result of new information, future event or otherwise.