RISI Announces Anne Rahikainen as New Director of Bioenergy Services

BOSTON, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, today announced the hiring of Anne Rahikainen as Director of Bioenergy Services. Anne comes to us having previously worked as a Senior Consultant with Poyry Group where her responsibilities included new business development, project management and supporting clients in the bioenergy and forest products industry sectors with key strategic questions such as market and product strategy, growth and new investments. At Poyry, Anne was involved with assessing and supporting numerous bioenergy related investments in the production of electricity, cellulosic ethanol and pellets. Her role at RISI will be to grow the bioenergy services practice by developing new multi-client, subscription and consulting products and growing the customer base within North America and internationally. Anne's educational background includes a BS in Forest Management from the University of Helsinki, a MS in Forest Products Marketing from the University of Washington, and most recently an Executive MBA from Cornell University.

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Mike Coffey, RISI's CEO, commented, "The wood-based biomass and bioenergy space is one that RISI has been investing time and resources to for several years now, launching several multi-client studies and services. In hiring Anne, I believe we are taking another positive step forward in becoming the premier information provider to the bioenergy markets in North America." He continued, "One of Anne's first projects will be to author a comprehensive study on the long-term forecast of biomass supply and demand in North America. We are very excited to have Anne on board and leading the charge as RISI develops a more comprehensive suite of services supporting the bioenergy space." Anne also commented, "RISI, with its deep understanding of the traditional markets and supply for wood-biomass and comprehensive forecasting services, has a great platform for serving the information and consulting needs of the growing bioenergy sector. The plans for the new multi-client study are already underway and we hope to engage our customers with new and up-to-date information and analysis of these emerging markets. We will also actively engage our customers in discussions to understand their needs for new information and other support."

RISI's wood-based biomass services:

• 2010 Wood Biomass Policy Review – comprehensive analysis and review of US and European wood biomass policies.
• Emerging Biomass Industry; Impact on Existing Woodfiber Markets - comprehensive forecast of the continued growth in demand for wood fiber from the biomass industry.
• Wood Biomass Market Report - The first and only newsletter providing market information and pricing for the emerging North American biomass industry.
• Wood Biomass Projects Database - The only source for a complete and comprehensive listing of all recent and upcoming North American Wood Biomass Projects.

Visit www.woodbiomass.com for more information about how RISI can help you solve your most pressing wood biomass challenges.

About RISI

RISI is the leading information provider for the global forest products industry. The company works with clients in the wood biomass, timber, wood products, pulp and paper, 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; Helsinki, Finland; Singapore; and Charlottesville, Virginia. More information can be found at www.risi.com.

SOURCE RISI