Mr. Richard Newman, the Company's Chief Financial Officer and Controller, joined Physicians Choice Dialysis in September 2005, bringing with him 18 years of extensive accounting and financial experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to that, he spent 5 years as Controller of Mill Street Design, a custom designer of woven tapestry products and 2 ½ years as Controller of Convergent Solutions, a customized software developer and hardware reseller/networking company. In each of these capacities, Rich was responsible for the Accounting, Financial, and Treasury functions. In addition, Rich gained extensive experience in accounting system conversions, budgeting and forecasting, and negotiating bank financing for various corporate debt instruments. Rich also spent 8 years working at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, a $4 billion public pharmaceutical manufacturer. He began his career in the private sector here in 1990 as a financial analyst and through a series of promotions, he ultimately held the position of Controller of their Delaware holding companies, where he was responsible for the internal and external reporting requirements of each company. Within his tenure at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Rich spent 2 years as lead project manager for the US financial accounting portion of a global SAP implementation. Rich began his corporate career in 1988 and spent 2 ½ years working in public accounting, where he earned his CPA designation. Rich's other academic achievements include a B.S. degree in Accounting from The Pennsylvania State University in 1988.