Richard Budd, chairman and chief executive officer, AgriBioTech Inc., Wednesday announced that Kent Schulze has elected to resign his position.

"We thank Kent Schulze for his years of service to ABT, first as a consultant to the company, then as a member of the board, and since Jan. 1, 1998, as board member and president and chief operating officer,'' said Budd. "We will build upon his work as we implement the integration plan developed by Schulze, our senior operations management team and employees.''

A team of four co-presidents, previously announced via general and trade-news releases, will provide operational leadership for the company with various functional and operational responsibilities. They are:
- Kathleen Gillespie, co-president, Mergers, Divestitures and Acquisitions;
- Randy Ingram, co-president, CFO and director of Business Development;
- Drew Kinder, co-president, director of the Retail Team, and
- Dr. Thomas B. Rice, co-president, director of Research.

Additionally, Wednesday the company announced the appointment of senior operations managers and a director who will be responsible for various activities and new geographic areas that are being created as part of the ABT integration plan. These managers will play key roles in the new operations structure of ABT, including management of ABT resources and facilities.

These senior operations management appointments include:
- Ken Budd, formerly general manager of ABT companies Lofts Seed Inc., Budd Seed and Great Western, was appointed group director with overall responsibility for the mass merchants business unit and the southeast United States;
- Bill Dunn, currently at ABT/Lofts, Area 1 manager (northeast United States and Canada); Joe O'Donnell, currently branch manager at ABT/Lofts-Sunbelt Seed, Area 2 manager (southeast United States);
- Bruce Ceranske, currently general manager at ABT's W-L Research, Area 3 manager (Midwest); and,
- Doug Elkins, currently western regional manager for ABT and general manager of ABT's Germain's Seed, Area 4 manager (west United States and Mexico).

AgriBioTech is a fully integrated full-service seed company specializing in the forage and turfgrass
seed sector, complete with research and development of proprietary seed varieties, seed processing plants, and a national and international distribution and sales network. ABT's vision is to lead the turf and forage seed industry in discovering its value potential.

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