The Richmont Holdings Team

John P. Rochon

John Rochon is founder and chairman of Richmont Holdings. Mr. Rochon is a veteran of more than three decades of successful leadership in finance, marketing, sales and operations. After spending the early part of his career working for Chesebrough-Ponds (Unilever) and Ecolab International, he joined Mary Kay Inc. in 1980. In 1984, he became chief financial officer.

Mr. Rochon was the architect of Mary Kay’s management-led leveraged buyout in 1985, arranging the financing and executing the transaction. That LBO is regarded as one of the most successful in business history. During the following 16 years, the company’s retail revenue grew from $500 million to almost $3 billion and Mary Kay became the world's best-selling brand of skin care & color cosmetics. Mr. Rochon became vice chairman in 1987 and chairman and CEO in 1991.

With Mr. Rochon as its General Partner, Richmont Capital Partners I became the largest shareholder in Avon Products, Inc., which subsequently experienced tremendous growth. Mr. Rochon has managed the growth of dozens of Richmont entities, in such varied industries as financial services, marketing, international trading, food services and office supplies.

Mr. Rochon is the chairman and controlling shareholder of privately-owned Nukote International. Nukote is a leader in the imaging industry providing high quality products such as aftermarket laser and inkjet printer cartridges, as well as a range of commerical imaging products. A Nukote subsidiary, EnviroSmart, is the world's largest collector of empty printer cartridges. By collecting and remanufacturing printer cartridges, Nukote makes major contributions to protecting the environment and conserving natural resources.

Mr. Rochon holds a B.Sc. and an MBA from the University of Toronto and has written and spoken extensively on topics relating to business strategy. He is a member of the School of Administration Advisory Board of the University of Texas at Dallas and is a past trustee of the University of Scranton and serves on The President's International Alumni Council of the University of Toronto.

Mr. Rochon established and heads the Rochon Family Foundation to assist victims of violence against women, particularly sexual assault.

John Rochon Jr.

Mr. Rochon has ten years of experience with financial analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and business operations. He has a background in finance, operations, technology and analysis of new business opportunities. After receiving his degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University and gaining banking experience in New York, he returned to Dallas and founded an Internet company before joining Richmont. He is involved with business analysis and strategic planning for the holding company.

Nick Bouras

Mr. Bouras has many years of high-level experience in finance, law and strategy. He is a partner in Richmont Holdings and is Vice Chairman and a major shareholder of Nukote International. A former CFO of Richmont Corporation, Mr. Bouras spent many years as a senior member of the leadership team working with Mr. Rochon to manage the Richmont portfolio of companies. He previously served as Vice President, Investments, having earlier served as Assistant Treasurer and Tax Manager. Mr. Bouras previously was a tax accountant with Ernst and Whinney and a senior tax accountant with Touche Ross and Company. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude, his MBA and Juris Doctor degrees from St. Louis University. He is a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Russell Mack

Mr. Mack, a former Reagan White House staff member, has more than 30 years of experience in communication, public relations and marketing. He served for four years as Executive Vice President for Communication and Public Affairs at Mary Kay Inc. and, simultaneously, was President and CEO of Richmont Communications, a public relations and creative design firm. Mr. Mack was a senior PR executive at American and United Airlines, head of the public relations division at Temerlin McClain Advertising and Senior Vice President at Lyrick Studios. The first part of Mr. Mack's career was spent in Washington, D.C. Mr. Mack was special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and Director of Public Affairs on the White House staff. Earlier, he served as a staff member in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, head of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Education and with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He received his bachelor's degree cum laude from American University and his Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University Law School.

Kelly L. Kittrell

Mr. Kittrell has more than 15 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance consulting, advising clients on sell-side mandates, buy-side engagements, valuations, capital raising and management buyouts. He most recently provided financial advisory services to clients while at Bank of America as a Managing Director in the Private Company Advisory Services practice. Mr. Kittrell has also served as a Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions practice at Ernst & Young Capital Advisors LLC, in the Corporate Finance practice at KPMG Peat Marwick, and recently as a Senior Consultant at Bickel & Brewer. Mr. Kittrell has executed transactions in a wide range of industries including automobile retailing, communications services, food distribution, manufacturing, newspaper publishing, oil field services, and physician staffing. He has authored articles appearing in Professional Review magazine and the Houston Business Journal, and has been a frequent speaker on corporate finance and valuation topics. He is a member of the CFA Institute, and obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1996. Born in South Carolina, Mr. Kittrell obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Alabama in 1980. After working in banking and financial analysis, he attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, where he obtained his MBA in 1985, and was named a Sord Scholar.

Brian Winters

Mr. Winters is Richmont's Chief Information Officer. He began his career by starting a wireless Internet company out of his basement at the age of 20 and grew the business into a regional provider, offering advanced telecommunications and IT consulting services to thousands of businesses and individuals. After selling the business to a competitor, he spent several years consulting in the areas of networking and enterprise telecommunications before accepting a position for a venture capital start-up in New York. For the next few years he helped develop and deploy a billion dollar, state-of-the-art wireless and fiber optic network used by utility companies and private industry to provide data and smart-grid utility services in a dozen countries around the world. In 2007, he joined the Richmont family at a subsidiary company. In 2009 Brian relocated to Dallas TX and became CIO of Richmont Holdings where he is responsible for setting technology policy and managing day to day IT operations for Richmont.s portfolio of companies. Brian received his MIS degree from the State University of New York.

Robert L. Leonard

Mr. Leonard has more than three decades of leadership experience in sales, operations, marketing and strategy in the field of business imaging products and technology. He has responsibility for various aspects of Richmont's holdings in the imaging and office products industry. Prior to joining Richmont, he was senior vice president at Static Control Components, Inc., the largest supplier of parts to the aftermarket printer sector. He previously served as vice president for sales and marketing at a leading supplier of aftermarket imaging products. Prior to that, he was national sales manager at ICMI, a major producer of customer toner products. Under his sales leadership, ICMI grew from a startup to become the largest independent toner manufacturer. Mr. Leonard has authored several articles in imaging industry publications. He received his B.S. degree from California University of Pennsylvania.

Ranganath Kanchi

Mr. Kanchi is an Associate at Richmont Holdings, specializing in obtaining and reviewing information and developing financial models related to potential acquisitions.  He joined Richmont Holdings in 2007, having previously served as a corporate strategies analyst for Wachovia in the Texas corporate banking and commercial banking groups.  At Wachovia, he performed financial modeling to evaluate financing options, supported bank credit transactions, buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, as well as working on investment memos for transactions analysis.  He is a 2006 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, with a finance major from McCombs School of Business.  While in college he served internships at Merrill Lynch and IBM. 

Heidi Rochon Hafer

Ms. Hafer serves as in-house legal counsel for Richmont Holdings. A 1995 graduate of Southern Methodist University, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1998. Ms. Hafer oversees the company’s legal matters and works with outside legal counsel on a variety of litigation issues. She has particular expertise in the area of intellectual property law. She is a member of the state bar of Texas and serves on the Visiting Committee of Loyola University School of Law. In 2005, she was honored by her peers as a "Texas Rising Star" in the "Super Lawyers 2005" issue of Texas Monthly magazine. She is a member of the board of directors of the Rochon Family Foundation.

Lauren Rochon Eidsvig

Lauren Rochon serves as Director of the Rochon Family Foundation, which was established in 2004 as a vehicle to educate the public about the horror of sexual violence against women and to support those who are helping victims and law enforcement authorities.   The Foundation is a non-profit corporation.  Ms. Rochon received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Methodist University.  The Foundation's home page may be accessed directly from this web site.

Alan Dyer

Alan Dyer is a veteran of 30 years in the office imaging products industry. His primary role at Richmont is Chief Operating Officer of Bond Street Ltd., a network of companies which provide imaging products and services to customers nationwide. Mr. Dyer has expertise in all aspects of the imaging supplies industry, from manufacturing toner to making print cartridges to supply chain to sales and customer service. His experience has included serving as general manager of an imaging supplies manufacturing facility, domestic and international sales of imaging products and corporate level product management. His most recent position was Vice President for Sales and General Manager of International Communication Materials Inc. (ICMI), which included responsibility for operations and sales at the toner manufacturing plant. Previous positions were Vice President for Sales, Industrial & OEM Markets; Vice President of Product Management; Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Modular Ink Technology (a Swedish ink jet printhead manufacturer; and Vice President OEM Sales at Nukote Inc. and Pelikan. Alan attended Northeast Louisiana University and Louisiana State University and holds a business degree. He is married and has two daughters and four grandchildren.