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Straightline Announces Executive Team

Leaders From Steel Mill, Steel Service Center and E-Business Industries Combine Expertise to Head U. S. Steel's New Distribution Business

PRNewswire
PITTSBURGH
10.30.2001

Straightline Source, a division of United States Steel LLC (NYSE: X), today announced the executive team to lead the new steel distribution business. Created to serve customers of all sizes who do not typically buy directly from steel producers, Straightline offers a direct-buying option for processed steel products. Straightline's seven-member executive team includes expertise from both inside and outside of the steel industry, including three executives from U. S. Steel. Led by President Bob Dryburgh, Straightline's executive team will focus on building the business through a series of regional rollouts beginning this month and extending throughout 2002.

"Selecting this broad range of talented leadership was an important step in the development of Straightline," said Roy Dorrance, executive vice president, U. S. Steel. "We are proud of the team we have built and the milestones they have already achieved. We are confident that we have assembled the best possible team to move the business forward and establish a customer-focused approach to doing business in the steel distribution industry."

Straightline's senior leadership team includes the following executives:

President Bob Dryburgh brings to Straightline over 20 years of experience in leading manufacturing and distribution operations. Dryburgh is responsible for driving Straightline's business strategy, operations and overall growth. He joined Straightline from North American metal building products manufacturer Jenisys Engineered Products, where he was appointed president and CEO in 1992. Jenisys was a business unit of Jannock Limited. During his tenure, Dryburgh spearheaded the company's successful financial turnaround and subsequent revenue and profitability growth. Additional executive management experience includes: president and chief operating officer of Signtech Inc.; vice president, building products for Bay Mills Limited; and division vice president, North American Non-residential Construction and Glass Group of Indal Limited.

A pioneer member of Straightline's concept development team, Director of Operations Bill Kelly is responsible for sales and operations planning, purchasing, demand fulfillment and product development. Kelly brings to Straightline an expertise in supply chain management, including over 26 years of operations and engineering experience at U. S. Steel, where he most recently served as general manager of business process reengineering. In this position, Kelly spearheaded a radical restructuring of the order fulfillment process, creating production improvements and implementing supply chain management tools that dramatically increased sales force effectiveness and decreased customer delivery lead times. In addition, Kelly worked for 18 years at U. S. Steel's Fairless Works.

Bob Trotter, director of commercial, leads Straightline's customer-focused business initiatives. He brings to Straightline an extensive e-business and metal service center background. Previously, Trotter served as vice president for MetalSpectrum, a metals e-marketplace, where he designed and implemented commercial strategy platforms. Trotter's metals experience includes a 15-year tenure at one of the nation's largest distributors and processors of metals and industrial plastics, where he held inside and outside sales, marketing and general management positions. Accomplishments include creating the company's carbon flat-roll steel hub in the Southwest and successfully growing a coil processing center business in Dallas.

With over 17 years of business strategy and technology experience, Dan Pavlick, managing director of strategy and information, leads Straightline's strategic planning and integration initiatives, overseeing marketing, customer experience management and information technology. Pavlick joined Straightline from e-business consulting firm ZEFER, where, as managing director in the Pittsburgh-based practice, he launched the office's strategy practice. As senior vice president and director of electronic commerce at The PNC Financial Services Group, Pavlick spearheaded e-commerce strategy development and managed the transition of core business processes through e-commerce technology. While at PNC Financial Services, he also helped develop an enterprise e-plan that fueled the launch of several business-to-consumer and business-to-business initiatives.

Phil Tomasetti, director of information technology (IT), oversees Straightline's critical IT and infrastructure-building initiatives, including applications, hardware, software and telecommunications. He led the team that developed the systems that power Straightline's business platform, enabling seamless customer transactions. Tomasetti's U. S. Steel career spans three decades and includes a series of systems and information technology positions both at corporate headquarters and in regional processing centers. Throughout his tenure, he spearheaded several cost-savings initiatives and infrastructure improvements that streamlined IT functions and increased efficiency in such areas as telecommunications, asset management, client server hardware and software, data and information security and disaster recovery.

Another pioneer member of the Straightline concept development team, Controller Bob Nolen spearheaded the creation of Straightline's financial systems from the ground up, tapping into his 12 years of financial analysis and accounting experience with U. S. Steel. Nolen directs Straightline's financial and accounting activities. Prior to joining Straightline, Nolen worked in various financial management roles at U. S. Steel's Mon Valley Works, most recently as department manager of analysis and accounting controls. Nolen started his steel and finance career with U. S. Steel Mining.

Aaron Herbick, director of human resources, is responsible for building Straightline's workforce of steel and e-business experts. In addition to recruiting programs, Herbick oversees retention and professional development programs for more than 90 employees at the Pittsburgh headquarters as well as in regional sales districts across the country. Prior to joining Straightline, Herbick was a principal at the executive search firm Jade Group LLC. He also served as director of human resources for Deloitte & Touche's Eastern Great Lakes Region, and director of human resources for the law firm Reed, Smith, Shaw and McClay.

Straightline launches in North Carolina, South Carolina and Eastern Tennessee this month, with additional regional launches continuing later this year and throughout 2002.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Straightline Source is a division of United States Steel LLC. Straightline specializes in distributing carbon flat-roll steel, offering a variety of hot roll, cold roll and galvanized products to customers of all sizes. These products are available in slit coil, stock sheets and custom cut-to-length sheets. For more information, visit our website at http://www.straightline.com/.

Visit USX Corporation's web site at http://www.usx.com/. USX Corporation press releases are available through Company News On-Call at http://www.prnewswire.com/gh/cnoc/comp/929150.html.

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SOURCE: Straightline Source

Contact: Marian Dezelan, +1-412-433-7809, or MLDezelan@straightline.com;
or Judy Sapos, +1-412-433-7833, or JMSapos@straightline.com, both of
Straightline

Website: http://www.usx.com/
http://www.straightline.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/gh/cnoc/comp/929150.html