NEW YORK, NY, February 14, 2001 -- Paxonix (www.paxonix.com) today announced the appointment of James R. Chambers as the company's Chief Executive Officer. Chambers was asked to lead the development and rollout of Paxonix's Internet-enabled environment by John A. Luke, Jr., Westvaco Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Rita V. Foley, Westvaco's Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Paxonix is aimed at helping consumer product companies improve profitability and global competitiveness through accelerated speed-to-market and increased efficiencies in their packaging and product-development efforts. Paxonix is an independent business created by Westvaco (NYSE:W), which was also among its 18 charter members when the company was announced in December 2000. Chambers comes to Paxonix with more than 20 years' consumer packaged goods experience in both new- and old-economy companies, including Nabisco, Inc., Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) and, most recently, Netgrocer.com, Inc. He brings a strong track record as a business builder with an ability to grasp issues and frame solutions quickly, and with a talent for successfully improving business processes, aligning marketing and sales with marketplace needs and charting new business directions. In his new role, Chambers will lead Paxonix's implementation of a comprehensive business solution that advances the way companies design and commercialize packaging for global distribution. "Paxonix is leveraging new technology to create a more integrated and collaborative approach to product and packaging commercialization, which is something that hasn't been done before," he says. "We see an enormous payoff in accelerating speed to market, creating operational efficiencies and improving customer profitability. Over time, we believe that Paxonix can become the partner of choice for consumer product companies who wish to develop and introduce products better and faster, which is the true essence of our value proposition."