2007-02-02 KONE Appoints Vance Tang EVP, Area Director North America and Member of Executive Board

KONE Corporation has appointed Vance Tang Executive Vice President and Area Director responsible for North America as of 19 February, 2007.

Mr. Tang will be a Member of the Executive Board and report to President & CEO Matti Alahuhta, KONE Corporation.

Mr. Tang will succeed Heimo Mäkinen, who has served as Executive Vice President and Area Director since 2004, as well as in other senior management roles since the beginning of his employment with the company in 1968. Prior to his planned retirement at the end of 2007, Mr. Mäkinen will take leadership of a major study relating to technology developments, working out of Hyvinkää, Finland.

Mr. Tang will join KONE from Honeywell Automation, where he has been in the position of Vice President and General Manager in Building Control Solutions since 2004. Prior to that he has held several senior positions with Trane during 1990-2004. Mr. Tang has both a BS degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse.

”Mr. Tang is joining our team to continue driving development programs that have been successfully initiated by Mr. Mäkinen. Mr. Tang brings significant value to our change process through his strong track record in leadership positions in businesses providing services and solutions for building owners. He will also bring a welcome North American perspective into our executive team”, states Matti Alahuhta.

Sender:

KONE Corporation

Kerttu Tuomas
Executive Vice President,
Human Resources

Minna Mars
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Communications & IR

For further information, please contact:

Matti Alahuhta, President & CEO, tel. +358 (0)204 75 4213
Kerttu Tuomas, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, tel +358 (0)204 75 4373
Minna Mars, Senior Vice President, Communications and IR, tel. +358 (0)204 75 4501

KONE is one of the world’s leading elevator and escalator companies. It provides its customers with industry-leading elevators and escalators and innovative solutions for their maintenance and modernization. KONE also provides maintenance of automatic building doors. In 2006, KONE had annual net sales of EUR 3.6 billion and about 29,000 employees. Its class B shares are listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in Finland.