Reilley Succeeds Lichtenberger as Praxair Chairman

Business Wire, Nov 29, 2000

Business Editors

DANBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2000

Effective December 1, 2000, Dennis H. Reilley, president, chief executive officer and director of Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX), will assume the additional position of chairman of the board, succeeding H. William Lichtenberger, who will retire. Lichtenberger's intended retirement was announced earlier this year when the board of directors elected Reilley to his current position.

Prior to joining Praxair in March 2000, Reilley was executive vice president and chief operating officer of DuPont Co., responsible for Pigments and Chemicals, Specialty Polymers, Nylon and Polyester. He had come to DuPont from Conoco where he held a wide range of positions, including president and managing director of Conoco Ireland. In 1989 Reilley transferred to DuPont's Chemicals and Specialty business, rising to vice president and general manager of Specialty Chemicals. He was named executive vice president and chief operating officer in 1999.

Reilley is a member of the board of Entergy Corporation and is chairman-elect of the American Chemistry Council (formerly the Chemical Manufacturers Association). Lichtenberger became chairman of Praxair, Inc. in 1992 when the company was spun off from Union Carbide Corporation. Between 1992 and March 2000, he also was chief executive officer of Praxair.

"Bill led Praxair through one of the most successful spin-offs in corporate history, and significantly expanded Praxair's global reach over the past eight years," said Reilley. "His vision of Praxair as the best-performing industrial gases company in the world laid the foundation of our current business strategies, focused on high return and profitable growth."

Lichtenberger joined Union Carbide's industrial gases business in 1959, holding various engineering and management positions until 1975, when he became vice president and general manager of the European industrial gases business in Geneva, Switzerland. He returned to the U.S. in 1980, and five years later was appointed president of Union Carbide's Solvents and Coatings Materials Division. In 1986, he became president of the Chemicals and Plastics business group, and, in 1990, he was named president, chief operating officer and a director of Union Carbide. Lichtenberger is a member of the boards of Arch Chemicals and Ingersoll-Rand.

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 1999 sales of $4.6 billion. Praxair products, services and technology bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, food and beverage, healthcare, semiconductor materials, steel, chemicals and refining, metal fabrication, water treatment, glass and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.