NewPage Corporation announces organization changes

Apr 17, 2006. /Lesprom Network/. On April 14, 2006, the NewPage Corporation board of directors announced that Mark A. Suwyn had been appointed to the position of chief executive officer, effective April 13, 2006. Mr. Suwyn had served as the interim CEO since March 1, 2006. The board also elected Richard D. “Rick” Willett, Jr., as president and chief operating officer, effective April 13, 2006. Mark A. Suwyn is chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors of NewPage Corporation and NewPage Holding Corporation. Mr. Suwyn was chairman and chief executive officer of Louisiana-Pacific Corporation from 1996 until his retirement in 2004. Prior to joining Louisiana-Pacific, from 1992 through 1995, Mr. Suwyn served as a director and executive vice president of distribution, specialty products and forestlands at International Paper. Before joining International Paper, from 1967 through 1992, Mr. Suwyn served in a variety of positions with E.I. DuPont, most recently serving as executive vice president, medical products and imaging systems. Mr. Suwyn earned his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Washington State University. He is co-chairman of the Washington State University Foundation and a member of the board of trustees for Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and serves as a board member of Ballard Power Systems, BlueLinx Inc. and United Rentals Inc. Richard D. “Rick” Willett, Jr. is president and chief operating officer. Previously, Mr. Willett was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Teleglobe International Holdings Ltd. since January 2005, prior to which he served as chief financial officer and executive vice president since June 2004, and chief financial officer and vice president of operations of Teleglobe Canada ULC and Teleglobe America Inc. since June 2003. Mr. Willett served as a consultant to Cerberus with respect to the acquisition of the core businesses of Teleglobe Inc. and its subsidiaries by TLGB Acquisition, an affiliate of Cerberus, from October 2002 until May 2003. Prior to Cerberus and Teleglobe, Mr. Willett had a progression of responsibilities at General Electric over 11 years up to the executive level, including chief financial officer of GE Superabrasives, Inc. from 2000 to 2002, and as an executive audit manager for various units of General Electric Capital Services from 1999 to 2000. In addition, Mr. Willett had numerous global assignments on General Electric's corporate internal audit staff and various engineering and product management roles in General Electrics Plastics. Mr. Willett received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA in finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition to the new members of the senior leadership team, NewPage also announced three new appointments to fill open positions on the company's board of directors. On April 13, 2006, the board of directors of NewPage Corporation elected Gerald Porter “Liam” Strong as a director. He is now a member of the board of directors of NewPage Corporation and NewPage Holding. From May 2003 to March 2006, Mr. Strong was a director and the president and chief executive officer of Teleglobe Canada ULC and Teleglobe America Inc. Mr. Strong served as a consultant to Cerberus with respect to the acquisition of Teleglobe's core business from June 2002 until May 2003. From 1987 through mid-1991, he served as president and CEO of MCI WorldCom International. Prior to joining MCI WorldCom, he served as the chief executive officer of Sears PLC from 1992 through 1997 and as a marketing and operations director of British Airways from 1988 through 1991. On April 5, 2006, the board of directors of the NewPage Corporation elected Robert M. Armstrong and David J. Prystash as directors. Robert M. Armstrong is a member of the board of directors of NewPage Corporation and NewPage Holding Corporation. Mr. Armstrong was a private career consultant from 1998 to 2001. He was Director of Alumni Career Services for Harvard Business School from 1991 to 1997. Mr. Armstrong serves on the board of trustees of the Quant Funds, a group of publicly traded mutual funds sponsored by U.S. Boston Capital Corp. David J. Prystash is a member of the board of directors of NewPage Corporation and NewPage Holding Corporation. Mr. Prystash has been global controller, product development at Ford Motor Company since June 2005. He was executive director, pre-owned and remarketing strategy at Ford since July 2003. Prior to that, he served as controller, North American product programs at Ford since August 2001. From January 2000 to August 2001, he served as director, corporate business Development at Ford. Mr. Prystash also serves on the board of directors of Ballard Power Systems, Inc. On April 5, 2006, Jerome F. Tatar resigned from the NewPage board of directors for personal reasons. NewPage is grateful for Mr. Tatar's contributions and extends its best wishes as he leaves the board. About NewPage Corporation: NewPage Corporation, headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, is a leading U.S. producer of coated papers in North America. With 4,300 employees, the company operates four integrated pulp and paper manufacturing mills located in Escanaba, Michigan; Luke, Maryland; Rumford, Maine; and Wickliffe, Kentucky. These mills have a combined annual capacity of approximately 2.2 million tons of coated paper.