Alcoa Executive Vice President and Group President Primary Product John Pizzey to Retire; Bernt Reitan Named Successor.

Business Editors

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 29, 2003

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced today that Alcoa Executive Vice President and Group President of Primary Products G. John Pizzey, 58, is retiring from the company early next year. Mr. Pizzey's successor is Bernt Reitan, 55, currently vice president of Alcoa and president of Primary Metals, who has overall responsibility for the company's North American primary metals strategy. Mr. Reitan, who together with Pizzey has played a key role in implementing the company's growth and cost reduction strategies in primary metals, will also become chairman of Alcoa of Australia Ltd.

"Thanks in no small part to John's vision and his highly developed executive skills, the breadth of Alcoa's mining, refining and smelting assets today are unrivaled anywhere in the world. His counsel and leadership have been invaluable as we strengthened our position as the world's largest and most profitable aluminum business. Under John's direction, we have improved the performance of our plants, added new, lower-cost capacity through greenfield and brownfield projects or via acquisitions, and strengthened our mining and refining operations. His common sense and deep knowledge of the business will be missed," said Alcoa Chairman and CEO Alain Belda.

"We are also extremely fortunate at Alcoa to have the expertise and experience that Bernt brings to this key role," Mr. Belda continued. "Bernt has an exceptional record of success in driving profitable growth. With his experience and success running our global alumina business and the primary metals division, Bernt has the global vision that is critical to success in his new job. With his energy, we can expand our global footprint, improve productivity, deploy the best technology and help our customers succeed."

Biographical information follows:

Bernt Reitan

Bernt Reitan was named to his most recent position as vice president of Primary Metals for Alcoa in 2003 with responsibility for the company's smelting facilities worldwide. During Bernt's short tenure at primary metals, the U.S. smelters have lowered their production cost by $50 a ton through June 2003.

Mr. Reitan joined Alcoa in 2000 as general manager of Alcoa World Chemicals Europe, and named president of Alcoa World Chemicals on Jan 1, 2001. He was named president of Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals and elected a vice president of Alcoa in July 2001 when he assumed global accountability for Alcoa's alumina business.

Prior to joining Alcoa, Mr. Reitan held a series of leadership positions with Elkem in Norway over a 20-year period. Among his assignments: plant manager Rodsand magnetite mine (1980-83), general manager Elkem Chemicals Ltd. in England (1983-84), plant manager Fiskaa silicon plant (1985-87), and business unit manager ferro alloys division (1987). He also was a member of corporate management at Elkem ASA from 1987, serving as senior vice president Materials and Technology and managing director Elkem Aluminium ANS (50% Elkem/50% Alcoa) from 1988 until June 2000.

From 1972 to 1979 he held civil engineering positions in Norway (Stavanger and Lillehammer).

Mr. Reitan, who was born in Norway, has a master's degree in civil engineering from Technical University Trondheim.

He has served on the boards of a number of industry associations including the International Primary Aluminium Institute, the European Aluminium Association, the Norwegian Employers Federation, the Norwegian Process and Manufacturing Association, and he was chairman of the board of the Norwegian Metallurgical Industry's Association from 1990-92. His corporate board memberships include Arkwright Insurance Inc.'s international advisory board; Hunsfos A/S, a Norwegian paper company; Raufoss A/S, automotive parts and defense products; and he was chairman of the board of Norzink A/S (1995-2000), a zinc and aluminum fluoride producer owned 50/50 by Rio Tinto and Boliden.

John Pizzey

G. John Pizzey was responsible for the strategic and technical management of Alcoa's alumina refineries and primary aluminum smelters worldwide and associated businesses, such as metal purchasing, trading and transportation since 2000. He has been an executive vice president of Alcoa since 2001.

Mr. Pizzey joined Alcoa in Australia in 1970 as an applications engineer. He held various sales and product management positions there until 1988 when he was appointed to the board of Alcoa of Australia as executive director, Victorian Operations and managing director of Portland Smelter Services. In 1994, John moved to the United States and became president of the bauxite and alumina business unit then one year later he was named president of the primary metals business unit. He was elected a vice president of Alcoa in 1996, president Alcoa World Alumina in 1998, and took on additional responsibility for chemicals in 1999. During John's tenure in the U.S., Alcoa's capacity in aluminum production doubled, and its capacity in alumina increased 37 percent.

Mr. Pizzey is chairman of Alcoa of Australia Ltd., and is a member of the board of directors of Amcor Ltd and the Alcoa Foundation. He is deputy chairman of ION Ltd. and serves as chairman of the London Metal Exchange PLC and the International Aluminium Institute.

He holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Melbourne University and a Fellowship Diploma of Management from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He was born July 28, 1945, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.