Investors | News Releases | Beazer Homes CFO, David Weiss, to Retire; James O'Leary Appointed Successor

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Beazer Homes CFO, David Weiss, to Retire; James O'Leary Appointed Successor

April 30, 2003 at 8:01 AM EDT

ATLANTA, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE: BZH) (www.beazer.com) today announced that David S. Weiss, its Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will retire effective August 15, 2003. The Company intends to appoint James O'Leary, the Company's Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, as his successor. Mr. Weiss [42] will resign from the Company's Board of Directors effective August 15, 2003, but will remain as an employee of Beazer through September 30, 2003, the end of the Company's 2003 fiscal year. At that point, pursuant to a two-year consulting and non-compete agreement, he will become a consultant to the Company. He will be succeeded on August 15, 2003 by James O'Leary [40].

Ian McCarthy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Beazer Homes, said, "It is with much sadness that we announce that David Weiss has decided to retire as our Chief Financial Officer in order to spend more time with his family and pursue other interests outside finance and homebuilding. We honor his request to step down as our CFO and wish him the best in the future. David was a key member of the team that took Beazer public in 1994 and oversaw the development of the 'Value Created' framework for evaluating our performance in 1996, the framework that we continue to use to this day. While we will miss his day-to-day counsel, David will remain as a consultant to Beazer for a period of two years following his retirement and I know will continue to contribute to our future success."

Mr. O'Leary joined the Company in June 2002 as Executive Vice President responsible for corporate development in addition to supply chain and national purchasing initiatives. He was previously with U.S. Industries, Inc. from 1995 to 2002, where he held a number of positions including Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and, immediately prior to joining Beazer Homes, Chairman and CEO of LCA Group, Inc., U.S. Industries' global lighting subsidiary. Mr. O'Leary held various financial and operational positions at Hanson plc and Deloitte & Touche. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School and is a licensed CPA.

Mr. McCarthy stated, "While we are sad to announce David's retirement, we are extremely pleased that he will be replaced by Jim O'Leary. Since joining Beazer Homes, Jim has overseen several of our corporate cost control and supply chain initiatives. These initiatives have already begun contributing to our significant margin improvements over the past year. Jim will continue to oversee these initiatives in his new role."

David S. Weiss, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Beazer, said, "It is with mixed emotions that I announce my retirement as CFO of Beazer. I am extremely excited about my future outside of finance and the time that I will be able to spend with my family, watching my children grow up. I am grateful that Beazer's success has made my retirement at such a young age possible. I am also very thankful that Beazer would like to continue my relationship with them as a consultant in the future. I will miss, however, the daily interactions with my friends and colleagues at Beazer and in the financial community. As a consultant and shareholder of Beazer, I will continue to do all I can to further the Company's success. I am proud of the contributions that I have made to date at Beazer and know that Jim will build strongly upon that foundation."

Beazer Homes USA, Inc., based in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the country's ten largest single-family homebuilders with operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Beazer Homes also provides mortgage origination and title services to its homebuyers.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this Press Release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to changes in general economic conditions, fluctuations in interest rates, increases in raw materials and labor costs, levels of competition and other factors described in the Company's Annual Report for the year ended September 30, 2002.

SOURCE  Beazer Homes USA, Inc.
    -0-                             04/30/2003
    /CONTACT:  David S. Weiss, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer of Beazer Homes USA, +1-404-250-3420, or dweiss@beazer.com/
    /Web site:  http://www.beazer.com/
    (BZH)