Mr. Hale served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of LG&E Energy Corporation, a diversified energy services company headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, from August 1990 until retiring in April 2001. Prior to joining LG&E Energy, he was Executive Vice President of BellSouth Corporation, a communications services company in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1966 to 1986, Mr. Hale held several executive positions with AT&T Co., a communications services company, including Vice President, Southern Region from 1983 to 1986. Mr. Hale holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management. Mr. Hale is also a Director of H&R Block, Inc., where he is the Presiding Director of the Board of Directors, and serves as a member of the Compensation, Audit and Governance and Nominating Committees. He also serves as a Director of Hospira, Inc., where he is a member of the Compensation and Governance Committees. Mr. Hale is Chairman of Ashland's Audit Committee and is a member of the Finance Committee.