KONE appoints Pierre Liautaud as Executive Vice President and Member of the Executive Board

Pierre Liautaud (52) has been appointed Executive Vice President responsible for the West and South Europe, Middle-East and Africa region as of April 1, 2011. Pierre Liautaud will be a Member of the Executive Board and report to Matti Alahuhta, President & CEO, KONE Corporation.

Pierre Liautaud will succeed Eric Maziol, who will retire after 37 years of service at KONE. Prior to his retirement on June 1, 2011, Eric Maziol will support Pierre Liautaud during a transition period.

Pierre Liautaud has a strong background in leading high technology businesses. For the major part of his career he has worked for IBM and Microsoft and has held several senior management positions in these companies. Pierre Liautaud has a M.Sc. (Sciences) degree from Ecole Polytechnique and a M.Sc. (Engineering) from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in France.

“Pierre has been very successful in developing and leading demanding businesses in fast changing environments. He brings a lot of valuable experience to KONE”, says Matti Alahuhta.

About KONE

KONE is one of the global leaders in the elevator and escalator industry. The company has been committed to understanding the needs of its customers for the past century, providing industry-leading elevators, escalators and automatic building doors as well as innovative solutions for modernization and maintenance. The company’s objective is to offer the best people flow experience by developing and delivering solutions that enable people to move smoothly, safely, comfortably and without waiting in buildings in an increasingly urbanizing environment. In 2010, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 5 billion and approximately 33,800 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd in Finland.

For further information, please contact:
Anne Korkiakoski, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communications, tel. +385 204 75 4775
Kerttu Tuomas, Executive Vice President, Human Resources +358 204 75 4373

Sender:

KONE Corporation

Anne Korkiakoski
Executive Vice President
Marketing and Communications

Kerttu Tuomas
Executive Vice President
Human Resources