Management Changes in North American and European Commercial Organizations

United States Steel Corporation has announced a series of management changes within its North American and European commercial organizations. John B. Peters will return to the United States from U. S. Steel Kosice in the Slovak Republic to serve as general manager North American flat-rolled customer servicePeter J. Alvarado will replace Peters as vice-president commercial, Europe. Alvarado will report to George F. Babcoke, senior vice-president European operations & president of U. S. Steel Kosice. Bert J. Phillips will fill Alvarado's role as general manager automotive. These moves will be effective as of May 1st.
Alvarado, 51, will assume responsibility for all commercial activity related to U. S. Steel's European operations. Alvarado began his career with U. S. Steel in 1981 as a metallurgical engineer at the company's Research and Technology Center in Monroeville, Pa. In 1985, he transferred into marketing and sales and advanced through a series of increasingly responsible positions covering a broad range of flat-rolled products. In 1996, Alvarado moved into automotive sales as a senior sales engineer and in 1998 was named director of sales for automotive. He advanced to his most recent position, general manager-automotive in 2005.
Alvarado, who was born in Caracas, Venezuela, received a bachelor's degree in metallurgical and materials engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 1978 and earned master's degrees in both metallurgical engineering and business administration from the University of Pittsburgh in 1981. He and his wife, Margie, will relocate to Slovakia

No need to fear the euro

It is highly likely that today, May 7th 2008, the European Commission will announce its decision regarding the accession of the Slovak Republic to the so-called eurozone. The anticipated positive decision will be of great significance for everyone, including U. S. Steel Kosice, for example in terms of reduced costs and simplified reporting for all kinds of transactions. It will have similar implications for the population of Slovakia, for all its citizens whether they are involved in business or not. Answers to questions like what benefits and impacts the euro will have for U. S. Steel Kosice employees, and what advantages it will have for ordinary citizens outweighing any possible negative aspects, were sought by Ocel Vychodu from the SR Government's Commissioner for Euro Implementation, Igor Barat.

· What is the euro going to mean to the employees of U. S. Steel Kosice? Is it going to be of benefit to ordinary citizens?
- Your Company's employees, just like people working in any other firm, are going to enjoy a double benefit, so to speak, from the euro. On the one hand, as citizens themselves, they will find that the euro simplifies foreign travel for them, removing the need to buy foreign currency for practically any journey to whatever other country in the world, and to pay the associated exchange charges - and it will make comparison of prices easier as well. In addition, your employees will feel the benefit of the euro due to the fact that commercial companies are going to see better results, so they will then be able to bring in better conditions for their employees.

· If we were to put the advantages of the euro for ordinary citizens on one side of the scales, and the potential negative aspects of it introduction on the other, which side would the scales come down on?
- Well, no negative aspects have been identified for ordinary citizens, so in that sense there's not really anything to compare. The negative side is basically the conversion costs, but they'll be borne by organizations, not citizens. People might find the situation slightly more difficult right at the beginning, having to learn to count and think in other figures, but we can hardly call that a negative aspect now, can we.