CRDN Ceradyne, Inc. (MM)

Ceradyne, Inc. (Company) (Nasdaq:CRDN) announced that Dr. Alvin Gerk has been promoted to the corporate position of Vice President Operations, reporting directly to David Reed, Ceradyne's president of North American operations. Dr. Gerk, a seven year Ceradyne veteran, has been responsible for the bulk of Ceradyne's Advanced Ceramic Operations production located in California, including its lightweight ceramic armor production and silicon nitride technical ceramic components for diesel engine parts. Dr. Gerk received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Metallurgical Engineering, graduating from the University of Illinois in 1972. After a six year Post Doctorate at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, Gerk pursued a career in engineering, operations and management in the field of advanced technical ceramics with a focus on lightweight ceramic armor systems. Prior to joining Ceradyne in 1998, Gerk held various positions with Carborundum Company, Abex Corporation and Lanxide Armor Products. Joel Moskowitz, Ceradyne chief executive officer, commented: "For the past year or so, our strategy has been to put an executive team in place to manage our current increased levels of business, as well as anticipated future levels. We have accomplished this both through internal promotions, as well as new hires. I am pleased that Al has moved up the Ceradyne ladder and joins our senior management team fulfilling, in part, our corporate strategy." David Reed, Ceradyne president North American operations, commented, "Al has been in the thick of things from the moment he joined us in 1998. Under Al's direction, during these past 7 years Ceradyne has ramped up its armor production from prototype quantities to over 30,000 units per month and has seen its research and development efforts in silicon nitride diesel engine components result in production rates of millions of components annually. I am pleased to have Al as a key part of my team." Ceradyne develops, manufactures and markets advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, automotive/diesel and commercial applications. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.ceradyne.com. Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of Ceradyne that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "expects," "intends," "future," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2005, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.