Financial Analysts Choose Jouko Karvinen of Stora Enso as RISI's European CEO of the Year for the Second Time

BRUSSELS, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Stora Enso's CEO Jouko Karvinen has been selected as RISI's 2010 European CEO of the Year for the pulp and paper industry. The award will be presented at RISI's 12th European Pulp and Paper Outlook Conference in Amsterdam on March 9-11, 2010.

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European analysts and portfolio managers covering the forest products industry choose the European CEO of the Year annually through a survey organized by RISI. The criteria for nomination include leadership, vision and strategic accomplishment. Karvinen previously won the award in 2008, after only one year in the position of CEO at Stora Enso, and has been overwhelmingly chosen again as this year's winner.

Analysts have been impressed with Karvinen's leadership since he became CEO. One analyst stated that Karvinen "Has shown strong leadership through restructuring since the outset of his appointment, and all through 2009. He has also demonstrated that he clearly understands both the needs of the industry and of investors." Another analyst noted that Karvinen "continues to tackle difficult restructuring measures while also positioning the company for future growth, such as its acquisition of the ENCE assets in Uruguay."

Karvinen commented, "I am of course happy, humbled and feel privileged for getting the award for the second time by the vote of true forest industry experts. This is a team sport - and therefore I hope all my colleagues at Stora Enso will share a big piece of the recognition, no boat sails fast with the skipper only."

Karvinen joined Stora Enso in January of 2007. He was previously the CEO of Philips Medical Systems Division and a member of the Board of Management of Royal Philips Electronics. Born in 1957, he holds a Master of Science degree in Electronics and Industrial Economics from Tampere University of Technology in Finland.

RISI's European CEO of the Year Award was inaugurated in 2007 and the first winner was UPM's Jussi Pesonen. Karvinen won the award in 2008 and Christian Rynning-Tonnesen of Norske Skog won in 2009. RISI also runs regional CEO of the Year Awards in Latin America, Asia and North America. The 2009 winners included Antonio Maciel Neto of Suzano; Chen Hongguo of Shandong Chenming; and Doyle R. Simons of Temple-Inland Inc. The first Global CEO of the Year Award was given last year at the inaugural PPI Awards to Jim Rubright of Rock Tenn.

For more information on the RISI European Pulp & Paper Outlook Conference, visit www.risi.com/euroconf

About Stora Enso

Stora Enso is a global paper, packaging and forest products company producing newsprint and book paper, magazine paper, fine paper, consumer board, industrial packaging and wood products.

The company has 29 000 employees and 85 production facilities in more than 35 countries worldwide, and is a publicly traded company listed in Helsinki and Stockholm.

Stora Enso's annual production capacity is 12.7 million tonnes of paper and board, 1.5 billion square metres of corrugated packaging and 6.9 million cubic metres of sawn wood products, including 3.2 million cubic metres of value-added products. Our sales were EUR 11.0 billion, with an operating profit of EUR 388.4 million.

For more information visit www.storaenso.com.

About RISI

RISI is the leading information provider for the global forest products industry. The company works with clients in the pulp and paper, wood products, timber, tissue, nonwovens, printing and publishing industries to help them make better decisions.

Headquartered in Boston (Bedford), Massachusetts, RISI operates offices in Brussels, Belgium; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; Singapore; Helsinki, Finland; and Charlottesville, Virginia. More information can be found at www.risi.com.

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SOURCE RISI