ODP investors report board nominees

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Office Depot investors, Woodbridge Equity Fund LLLP and Levitt Corp. announced today that they intend to nominate two director candidates for election to the board of directors of Office Depot at Office Depot's 2008 annual meeting of shareholders currently scheduled to be held on April 23. Woodbridge Group's director nominees are Mark Begelman, the former president and coo of Office Depot, and Martin Hanaka, the former president and coo of Staples.

Woodbridge Group said it is nominating these candidates to serve on the board in place of Office Depot director candidates David Fuente and Steve Odland, chair and ceo.

Alan Levan, the chairman of the board and ceo of Levitt and Woodbridge, said, "As Office Depot shareholders, we believe Office Depot needs new representation on its board to revitalize the company and store experience and return Office Depot to a high-performance organization again. Under the current board and management team, Office Depot has lost its vision, its competitive position in the office supply retailing space and its drive for leadership.

Mark Begelman co-founded Office Club, an office supply retailer, in 1986, opened 52 stores in 4 years and took the company public in 1989. Begelman served as ceo of Office Club since he co-founded it until 1991 when Office Club merged with Office Depot, a merger in which Office Club's shareholders received a 25% premium. Following the merger, Begelman served as president and coo of Office Depot from 1991 to 1995.

Martin Hanaka was the president and coo of Staples from 1994 to 1997 and served as a director from 1996 to 1997. From 1998 until 2003, Hanaka was the ceo of The Sports Authority, where he served as chairman of the Board from 1999 until 2004 and is currently serving as chairman emeritus of the board.