RISI names Jouko Karvinen of Stora Enso as 2008 European CEO of the year

BRUSSELS, March 12, 2008 - RISI today announced that Stora Enso's Chief Executive Officer Jouko Karvinen has been selected as European CEO of the Year for the pulp and paper industry. Karvinen will be presented with the award at RISI's 10th European Pulp & Paper Outlook Conference in Lisbon, Portugal to be held on April 7-9, 2008.

Karvinen was unanimously chosen as the European CEO of the Year by a group of investment analysts and portfolio managers covering the forest products industry. The analysts responded to a survey organised by RISI and the criteria for nomination included leadership, vision and strategic accomplishment.

Stora Enso is a global leader in the forest products industry. Under Karvinen's lead, the company has embarked upon a major restructuring program including divesting its North American assets to NewPage and rationalizing its operations in Europe.

Rhiannon James-van Beuningen, Senior Vice President, Media Products, RISI, said the award recognizes Karvinen's role in the ongoing restructuring within Stora Enso and his impact on the European pulp and paper industry as a whole. She commented, "Karvinen only joined Stora Enso in January 2007 but he has already made tough decisions and taken measures to restructure the company. Although these decisions have met with resistance from employees, unions and associations, financial analysts have welcomed these changes which are designed to safeguard the longer term profitability of the company."

Jouko Karvinen joined Stora Enso in January last year and took up the position of CEO in March 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.

Mr. Karvinen commented, "It is a great honor for me to be granted this title after my first year as the CEO of Stora Enso. I take it as a word of confidence for the new strategies of the company to be on the right track."

RISI's European CEO of the Year Award was inaugurated last year and won by UPM's Jussi Pesonen. The first Latin American CEO of the Year Award was given to Jose Penido of VCP and Raymond Royer of Domtar won the North American award for the second time in 2007.

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

About Stora Enso

Stora Enso is an integrated paper, packaging and forest products company producing newsprint, magazine paper, fine paper, consumer board, industrial packaging and wood products. Stora Enso's sales totaled Euro 14.6 billion in 2006. The group has some 44,000 employees in more than 40 countries on five continents.

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; São Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; Singapore; and Charlottesville, Virginia. More information can be found at www.risiinfo.com.