Branded athletic and sporting goods company Russell Corporation has announced that Margaret M. Porter will retire as a member of its board of directors at the company's annual meeting in April 2006. Ms Porter, who currently chairs the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the Board, has been a director since 1997.

As the first woman to serve on Russell's board, she 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, Ms Porter was also a founding chairman of the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, a non-profit organisation promoting public understanding of science, technology and the environment.