From Top of the Heap to Prison Cell: Mark Whitacre, the Man Behind Matt Damon’s Movie Character, Shares His Story at SupplyExpo/Natural Products Expo West 2009

BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ — Two years after his release from
jail, Mark Whitacre will stand before the natural products industry at
SupplyExpo (www.supplyexpo.com) and tell how his life dramatically changed
from a top-level industry executive to a whistleblower and ultimately a
Federal prison inmate. This exclusive keynote will take place March 6, 2009 at
the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. The SupplyExpo trade show,
co-located with Natural Products Expo West and produced by New Hope Natural
Media is March 5-8, 2009.

Mark Whitacre, subject of the upcoming movie The Informant and COO of
Cypress Systems, will offer insight into his years as an FBI whistleblower and
his subsequent eight years in prison for fraud charges. The case was deemed by
law experts as the largest price- fixing case in US corporate history. For the
ingredients marketplace, the case was a harsh lesson in corporate ethics and
personal responsibility, a topic that is eerily similar to the financial
market crisis today.

Whitacre is an Ivy League Ph.D. and was the highest-level executive of a
Fortune 500 company to become a whistleblower in US history. A Warner Bros.
movie due for release in September 2009 tells Whitacre’s story. The Informant
stars Matt Damon as Whitacre and is directed by Steven Soderbergh. Whitacre
will also be the subject of the upcoming documentary Operation Harvest King,
for the Discovery Channel TV series “Undercover.”

The keynote is an exclusive opportunity to hear and meet the man behind
the movie and the people behind the case itself. Along with the keynote
address, there will be a panel including Ginger Whitacre, Mark’s wife, who
provided the moral compass that forced Mark’s hand in becoming an FBI
informant; Paul Willis, CEO of Cypress Systems who took a chance on hiring
Whitacre right out of prison; the FBI agent involved in the price fixing case
and Whitacre’s fraud charges; James Lieber, an anti-trust lawyer and author of
the book, Rats in the Grain (Basic Books 2000); and other industry insiders
who will comment and answer questions about the case.

Editorial staff may register online at www.supplyexpo.com/media. The show
is open to a professional audience of suppliers, manufacturers, buyers, and
industry members. It is NOT open to the general public.

SupplyExpo (www.supplyexpo.com) attracts the health and nutrition
industry’s senior-level innovators: product development teams,
thought-leaders, and renowned experts and professionals interested in science,
technology, business issues, global commerce, regulatory updates and market
data. The trade show showcases new ingredients, technologies, applications and
services for healthy/functional food and beverage, dietary
supplement/bioactive and nutraceutical markets.

New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of the Penton Media,
Inc. (www.penton.com), is the leading media resource and information provider
for the natural, organic, and healthy products industry, with print,
in-person/event, and e-business products and services.

    Contact:
    Penny Zemp, New Hope Natural Media
    (303) 998-9369
    pzemp@newhope.com

SOURCE SupplyExpo