Chen Hongguo of Shandong Chenming Group Wins RISI’s Asian CEO of the Year Award for the Second Time in a Row

SHANGHAI - RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, today announced that Shandong Chenming’s Chairman, Chen Hongguo has been selected for the second time as the Asian CEO of the Year.

(Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080521/NEW122LOGO )

The award will be presented at RISI’s 10th Asian Pulp & Paper Outlook Conference in Shanghai, China to be held on June 8-10, 2009. Chen Hongguo was chosen as the Asian CEO of the Year by a group of investment analysts and portfolio managers covering the forest products industry. The analysts responded to a survey organized by RISI and the criteria for nomination included leadership, vision and strategic accomplishment.

One leading analyst said, “We are voting for Mr. Chen Hongguo from Shandong Chenming Paper Holding Ltd. for his effort to invest heavily in upstream integration, and his commitment to innovation and environmental practices by doing this.”

Shandong Chenming is currently number 43 on the PPI Top 100 list of global pulp and paper companies (www.risiinfo.com/ppitop100). As well as winning last year’s Asian CEO of the Year Award, Chen Hongguo ranked number 7 in the PPI Power List in 2008 (www.risiinfo.com/powerlist). The company has invested in new pulp and paper facilities over the past few years and recently unveiled plans to install a new 450,000 tonne/yr fine paper machine at a greenfield mill in Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province, China.

Chen Hongguo commented, “I’d like to say thanks to RISI and also to friends who championed Shandong Chenming Group to receive the ‘RISI Asian CEO of the Year Award’ again this year. Meanwhile, I will take this award as encouragement to make the group stronger and bigger, together with the efforts of the management team. We want to turn Chenming into a world renowned brand in the paper industry in order to show our thanks to people who have given us support.”

About the RISI Asian Conference

The 10th RISI Asian Pulp & Paper Outlook Conference will be held in Shanghai, China on June 8-10, 2009. Westerlund has signed on as an official sponsor for the event. Conference programs and registration details are available online at: www.risiinfo.com/asiaconf.

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.risiinfo.com.

Contact: Jennifer Rahall RISI 4 Alfred Circle Bedford, MA 01730 USA Tel: +1-781-734-8949 jrahall@risiinfo.com

Source: RISI

Jennifer Rahall of RISI, +1-781-734-8949, jrahall at risiinfo.com; PHOTO: https://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080521/NEW122LOGO