Company appoints proven strategist and marketer, Jose Lorente, to lead company's largest region PERRYSBURG, Ohio, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Owens-Illinois, Inc., (NYSE:O-I) has selected Jose Lorente, a tested leader known for his strengths as a strategic visionary, team builder and effective marketer, to be the new president O-I Europe. He succeeds Jean-Marc Arrambourg, whose departure was previously announced. Mr. Lorente has most recently served as president of O-I's Latin American region. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050412/CLTU028LOGO ) Under Mr. Lorente's leadership as regional president, the Latin American team improved margins, enhanced operational efficiency, brought hundreds of new products to the marketplace and increased its regional market share. Mr. Lorente also led the team in cultivating deeper and more synergistic relationships with customers, guiding the conversion of key customer product lines to glass packaging. As president of O-I Europe, Mr. Lorente will drive regional profitability and growth; strengthen marketing and other core competencies within the organization; promote innovation through customer collaboration and leverage best practices to drive organizational excellence. Mr. Lorente will report to O-I President of Global Glass Operations Rich Crawford. "Jose's expertise and international experience will be an asset to the European team," said Rich Crawford. "Under his leadership, the Latin American region has become an increasingly strong team, focused on profitable growth and operational excellence. We are confident that Jose's leadership will guide the European team to new levels of performance and success." Prior to assuming the role of president of O-I Latin America in 2006, Mr. Lorente held positions in sales, marketing and manufacturing. He served as vice president of sales and marketing for Venezuela and general manager of O-I Brazil. He began his career at O-I in 1979 as an engineer. O-I will announce its selection for the new president of the Latin American region in the near future. About O-I Millions of times a day, O-I glass containers deliver many of the world's best-known consumer products to people all around the world. With the leading position in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America, O-I manufactures consumer-preferred, 100 percent recyclable glass containers that enable superior taste, purity, visual appeal and value benefits for our customers' products. Established in 1903, the company employs more than 23,000 people with 80 manufacturing facilities in 22 countries. In 2008, net sales were $7.9 billion. For more information, visit http://www.o-i.com/. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050412/CLTU028LOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: O-I CONTACT: Stephanie Johnston, O-I Corporate Communications, +1-567-336-7199, Web Site: http://www.o-i.com/

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