Our President and CEO, Mr. Harry Schmelzer Jr., has been honored for the first time with the award “Executivo de Valor” (Executive of Value) for the machines and industrial equipment segment promoted by the Brazilian financial and business newspaper “Valor Econômico”.

Management performance during 2008 was taken into consideration for such appointment with emphasis to business results, identification of innovation and growing opportunities, personal reputation in the market along with capability to adapt to different market situations and challenges.

Mr. Schmelzer Jr. was elected President and CEO of WEG in January of 2008 and, despite of the short time he has been in the position, the company was not left out of the nomination. This is the sixth consecutive year that the President and CEO of WEG is acknowledged by the Executivo de Valor award.

“To be honored with this award and be part of these distinguished businessmen represent a big responsibility for me. I am here representing over 20 thousand employees, other than shareholders, customers, suppliers and the people where we have manufacturing plants”, says Harry.

“Valor Econômico” is one of the most important financial and business newspapers in Brazil. Distributed in the market for over nine years, this periodical came with an innovative proposal for the financial and business areas highlighting financial analysis both domestically and international ly, political issues, companies’ performance analysis and personal investments.