Shomex announced today a preliminary list of more than 45 companies that will be exhibiting at its Diversity Career Fair on July 19, 2004 at Navy Pier in Chicago, IL. Rent Way, the nations second largest rent to own company, will be participating in the event.

"We are pleased that so many leading employers have chosen to participate in this event to promote their career opportunities to professionals in the Chicago area. We are also excited to be expanding our presence to a third event in Chicago later this year in order to meet the increasing demand we are seeing for our product in the market. The strong corporate participation not only reflects the importance of diversity, it also demonstrates the strength of our brand in connecting employers and talent," said Lewis R. Shomer, president and CEO of Shomex.

"Our Chicago event is a great opportunity for professionals to meet face-to-face with recruiters from industry giants in business services, communications, defense, insurance, pharmaceutical, retail and other important sectors of the U.S. economy. Due to our exceptionally strong value proposition to the job seeker marketplace and excellent promotional partners in the Chicago market, we are expecting a substantial audience of professionals from a wide range of communities, industries and fields," said Cristopher Levy, vice president of marketing with Shomex.

Other employers that will be exhibiting include: Abercrombie & Fitch, Accenture, Alliant Energy, Allstate Insurance, Ameriquest Mortgage Company, AON Corporation, ARAMARK ServiceMaster Facilities, ARAMARK Uniform Services, Argosy's Empress Casino & Hotel, ASAP Software, Blue Cross - Blue Shield of Illinois, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Budget Car and Truck Rental, Chicago Board of Trade, Cintas Corporation (Gold Sponsor), CIT, Computer Associates, Corn Products International, DaimlerChrysler, Drug Enforcement Administration, Fellowes, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Hill's Pet Nutrition/Colgate Palmolive, The Home Depot, Insight, Jewel-Osco, Kaplan, Inc., Kraft Foods, Merck (Gold Sponsor), Mintel International Group, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Pfizer, Philip Morris USA, Inc., SBC Communications Inc., Snap-on Tools, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Target Corporation, Textron Systems, U.S. Army, USDA/APHIS/VS, U.S. Foodservice, Verizon Wireless, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Westwood College, Winston & Strawn LLP and Yahoo! HotJobs.

The event will begin with a keynote presentation at 10:30 a.m. by Allstate Insurance. Exhibits are open from 11:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Admission is free. The latest event information can be found at www.DiversityCareerExpos.com.