DeWitt and Lila Wallace published their first issue of Reader's Digest in 1922. They sold the magazine exclusively by mail and priced it at 25¢. Working out of their Greenwich Village apartment, the Wallaces edited the magazine and printed 5,000 copies. Since then, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. has grown to become one of the world's preeminent publishers and direct marketers.

Reader's Digest, the largest-selling magazine in the world, now appears in 50 editions and 21 languages, following new launches during the past year in Romania, Slovenia and Croatia. The magazine is sold in more than 60 countries.

The company reaches millions of consumers through more than 25 other magazines, including Every Day with Rachael Ray and America's best-selling food and cooking magazine, Taste of Home. Each year, the company publishes about 50 million books including the Select Editions series and offerings in the cooking, do-it-yourself, health, gardening and children's titles. It markets collections of music, from Beethoven to Ella Fitzgerald to today's pop divas, and videos and audio books.

These products are marketed through a wide range of channels including direct mail, display marketing, direct response television, catalogs, retail and the Internet. Recently, the company acquired allrecipes.com, the leading website community for home cooks, and launched Taste of Home Entertaining, a coast-to-coast party plan business that markets to customers and their friends in their homes.

The company has built a global customer base that ranks among the world's largest. RDA expands that reach by working with a number of partners, licensees, alliances and vendors around the world.

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. went public in 1990, offering common stock on the New York Stock Exchange. On March 3, 2007, an investor group led by Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. completed an historic transaction resulting in the acquisition of RDA, returning the company to private ownership status after 17 years. Two other companies in Ripplewood's portfolio, WRC Media and Direct Holdings Co., were brought into RDA, making the total value of the transaction approximately $2.6 billion. Mary Berner, former President and CEO of Fairchild Publications, was named President and CEO of the Reader's Digest Association.

In the inaugural issue of Reader's Digest, the Wallaces offered articles of "enduring value and interest." They envisioned a future that was both bright and challenging. They viewed Reader's Digest as a tool to help people make sense of a fast-increasing flow of information, and to help them simplify their lives. Perhaps their idea was the first "search engine." Today, offering a broad range of formats and delivery options, the company continues to be committed to informing, entertaining and inspiring people of all ages and cultures. Headquarters are located near Pleasantville, New York.

MARY BERNER, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Mary Berner has served as the company's President and CEO since March 3, 2007. She has broad experience in all aspects of the publishing industry. She led Fairchild Publications, Inc. from 1999 to 2006, first as President and CEO, and then as President of Fairchild and an officer of Condé Nast when Fairchild became a division of Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Berner led the company to unprecedented financial growth and doubled its portfolio of magazines and businesses, leading to Advertising Age naming her “Publishing Executive of the Year” in 2004.

Earlier, Berner was Publisher of Glamour, the world’s largest and most profitable beauty and fashion magazine, for four years. In December 1997, she was named a Vice President at Condé Nast Publications, Glamour’s publisher. That year, Glamour achieved its best financial performance in eight years and its biggest year-over-year gains in 20 years, and she was named Condé Nast “Publisher of the Year.”

In 1989, she joined TV Guide (at that time the largest circulation U.S. magazine) as Advertising Director and in 1994 was named Senior Vice President and Publisher. During her tenure, Berner earned the magazine a place on Adweek’s 1993 and 1994 “Hot List.” Prior to joining TV Guide, Berner served as Publisher of Success magazine and before that was a divisional manager at Working Woman magazine.

Berner serves on the board of Partnership for a Drug-Free America and is on the board of directors of the Magazine Publishers of America. She also started a fundraising and mentoring program for St. Pius V High School in the South Bronx.

Berner holds a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and four children.