Contact: Eileen Rivera
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PEARSON PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS DELIVERS TALENT DEVELOPMENT SOLUTION TO ACE HARDWARE

Initiative targeted to company's most strategic revenue producing audience

Chicago, IL, February 5, 2007 - Pearson Performance Solutions (Pearson PS), a leading provider of strategic workforce solutions, announced today that it has expanded its relationship with Ace Hardware Corporation by providing a talent development program to meet a business imperative. The program was designed to help Ace in the evolution of their Field organization. The needs of several key positions had changed, and the nearly 300 people occupying those positions needed help in identifying their developmental needs.

Pearson's holistic approach included a job analysis survey, talent management assessment battery, performance rating survey, and learning analysis. Outputs included objective assessments of skills and potential of this strategically valuable audience, Group Development Plans (GDPs) to define key audience-wide development interventions, and Individual Development Plans (IDPs) to provide targeted development opportunities to close skill gaps and improve individual and organizational succession readiness.

Ace views this initiative as key to optimizing employees' skills. "While technology and process are important, we realized early on that those individuals who harness the technology and processes were critical to our supply chain's success. Pearson gave us a solution that not only assessed our target audience, but gave us a blue-print for workforce planning decisions, identified key developmental areas, and ensured that everything was tied back to our business objectives," said Ken Nichols, Vice President Retail Operations. "The Group and Individual Development Plans were a powerful component of this initiative," added Ray Narducy, Manager of Organizational Development. "We received very positive feedback from our audience on the development plans, and the IDPs and GDPs enabled us to better utilize the resources of Ace University."

The program, supported by a robust technology platform, was rolled out in its entirety in less than eight weeks. It was sponsored at the senior management level, and had stakeholder participation from Retail Operations, Sales, Organizational Development, and Human Resources.

"As the number one hardware cooperative in the U.S., Ace Hardware exemplifies distribution excellence," said David Fabianski, President of Pearson Performance Solutions. "We take pride in being selected to help Ace with their human capital development efforts. Ace places a significant value on talent management and their industry leadership is a testament to their emphasis on sound human capital decisions."

About Pearson Performance Solutions

Pearson Performance Solutions is one of the largest, most respected strategic workforce solutions companies in the United States. Through world-class products and services, thousands of clients have successfully improved the development, performance, and talent management of their workforce. From automated recruitment and selection, to mission critical learning and organizational development, Pearson PS helps clients achieve the greatest return from their human capital. For more information about the company please visit  www.pearsonps.com.

About Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware Corporation is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the industry.  Annual retail sales for Ace's more than 4,600 hardware, home center, and lumber and building materials locations approximate $13 billion. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace currently operates 14 distribution centers in the United States and its retailers' stores are located in all 50 states and 70 countries. More information on Ace can be found at www.acehardware.com.