Margaret M. Porter will retire from the Russell Corporation Board of Directors at the company's annual meeting in April 2006. Porter, who currently chairs the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board, has been a director since 1997.

“Margaret's continuous efforts on behalf of our employee and community relations have been a tremendous asset to our Board and to the Company,” said Jack Ward, chairman and CEO. “She has been a strong supporter of the work we do to support our corporate values and ensuring that we always operate as a socially responsible organization.”

Porter, the first woman to serve on Russell's board, is well-known in the Birmingham, Alabama community for her public service. A past chairman of the board of Trustees of the Children's Health System of Alabama, she currently serves on the board of The National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions. A former mayor of Mountain Brook, Alabama, Porter also was founding chairman of the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, a non-profit organization promoting public understanding of science, technology and the environment.