Lee S. Hillman Elected as a Director of Lawson Products, Inc.

DES PLAINES, Ill., Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lawson Products, Inc. (Nasdaq: LAWS) announced today the election of Lee S. Hillman to its board of directors. Mr. Hillman is President of Liberation Investment Advisory Group. He is the former Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. and former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bally Entertainment Corporation, which merged with Hilton Hotels Corporation in December of 1996. Prior to his career in the Bally organization, Mr. Hillman was an audit partner with Ernst & Young.

In September, 2003, Mr. Hillman was elected as an independent member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee of HealthSouth Corporation. Hillman's appointment was approved and recommended to the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of HealthSouth's Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee, consisting of three independent directors and two corporate governance advisors.

Mr. Hillman is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society. He serves as a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. Hillman was honored with the 2001 Torch of Liberty Award for his work with the Anti-Defamation League. He is a member of the Graduate School of Business Advisory Council at the University of Chicago and regularly serves as a guest lecturer at the graduate schools of business at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

Mr. Hillman was elected to fill a vacancy created by the retirement from the board of Bernard Kalish. Mr. Kalish, who has been affiliated with Lawson Products for 47 years, retired as Chairman and CEO in 1999.

Lawson Products is an international seller and distributor of systems, services and products to the industrial, commercial and institutional maintenance, repair and replacement marketplace. The Company also manufactures, sells and distributes production and specialized component parts to the original equipment marketplace, including the automotive, appliance, aerospace, construction and transportation industries.

SOURCE Lawson Products, Inc.