HR Block 2005 Annual Report Download - page 34

CONTINUING DIRECTORS WHOSE TERMS EXPIRE IN 2007 (CLASS III DIRECTORS):
Donna R. Ecton
Director since 1993
Age 58
Ms. Ecton is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EEI Inc., a management consulting
firm located in Paradise Valley, Arizona that she founded in 1998. Prior to forming EEI Inc., Ms. Ecton
served as the Chief Operating Officer of PETsMART, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, a retail supplier of products
and services for pets, from December 1996 until May 1998 and on the Board of Directors of PETsMART,
Inc., from 1994 until 1998. Prior to PETsMART, Ms. Ecton was Chairman, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Business Mail Express, Inc., a privately held expedited printing and mailing business, and
before that she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Van Houten North America, Inc. and
Andes Candies, Inc., a privately held international confectionary company. Ms. Ecton’s previous
business experience covers a variety of management positions with companies such as Nutri/System,
Inc., Campbell Soup Company, Citibank, N.A. and Chemical Bank. She received a Bachelor of Arts in
Economics from Wellesley College (Durant Scholar) in 1969 and a Master of Business Administration
from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1971. Ms. Ecton is Chairman of the
Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors and a member of the Executive, Finance and
Governance and Nominating Committees.
Louis W. Smith
Director since 1998
Age 62
Mr. Smith served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation,
a charitable foundation, Kansas City, Missouri, from July 1997 until April 2002 and President and Chief
Operating Officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation from June 1995 to July 1997. He also
served on the Board of Directors of such Foundation from January 1991 through September 2002. Prior
to joining the Foundation, Mr. Smith had a 29-year career with AlliedSignal, Inc. (now Honeywell
International), a diversified technology and manufacturing company, retiring as President of the Kansas
City Division in 1995. Mr. Smith also serves on the Board of Directors of Sprint Corporation. He holds a
bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and a Master of
Business Administration from the Executive Fellows Program at Rockhurst University. Mr. Smith is
Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors and is a member of the Compensation and
Executive Committees.
Rayford Wilkins, Jr.
Director since 2000
Age 53
Mr. Wilkins has served as Group President, SBC Communications, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, a
diversified telecommunications company and wireless communications provider, since May 2002.
Previously he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Bell Telephone Company and
Nevada Bell Telephone Company, San Ramon, California, from September 2000 until April 2002 and as
President of SBC Business Communications Services, San Antonio, Texas, from October 1999 through
September 2000. Mr. Wilkins served as President and CEO of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., San
Antonio, Texas, from July 1999 until October 1999. He served as President of Business Communications
Services, Pacific Bell Telephone Company, San Ramon, California, from August 1997 until July 1999. He
also served as Vice President and General Manager of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., Kansas City,
Missouri, from August 1993 until August 1997. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business
administration from the University of Texas in Austin in 1974 and attended the University of Pittsburgh’s
Management Program for Executives in October 1987. Mr. Wilkins is a member of the Audit, Finance
and Governance and Nominating Committees of the Board of Directors.
H&R BLOCK 2005 Proxy Statement
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