LISLE, Ill. -- Budget Group has appointed Morris Belzberg, a former Budget CEO, and Mark Sotir, the company’s current president and COO, to its board of directors. The company also announced that James Calvano has resigned from the board.

Belzberg, 72, will serve a two-year term. He will be eligible for re-election at the 2004 stockholders meeting.

A veteran of the car rental industry, Belzberg served as board chairman of Budget Rent a Car from 1986 to 1991, when he retired.

In 1962, Belzberg opened the first Budget fran-chise location in Canada. He later joined Budget Rent a Car Corp. and held a variety of executive positions within the company.

Belzberg was named president of Budget Rent a Car Corp. in 1969 and CEO in 1971. He served on Budget’s board of directors until 1997.

Belzberg is part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pen-guins and previously owned the Minnesota North Stars. Belzberg also serves as a member of the board of directors for BECA/Lynx in Riverside, Calif.

As president and chief operating officer for Budget Group, Sotir, 38, oversees the company’s core car and truck rental operations. He will face election at the 2002 annual stockholders meeting, set for May 16.

Sotir was appointed president and chief oper-ating officer in May 2000. Since joining Budget in 1995, he has held a number of executive posi-tions: president of North American vehicle rental operations in 1999; senior vice president for operations and reservations in 1998; and senior vice president for worldwide marketing for Budget Rent a Car in 1997.

Before joining Budget, Sotir spent six years at the Coca-Cola Company. Sotir holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Amherst College and a master's of business administration degree from Harvard Business School.