By Mark Rushton, Editor, PPI magazine, Graeme Rodden, Editor, Pulp & Paper magazine, Annie Zhu, Features Editor, PPI magazine, Felicia Willis, Associate Editor, Pulp & Paper magazine and Rhiannon James-Van Beuningen, Senior Vice President, Media Prod

BRUSSELS, July 31, 2008 (Viewpoint) - Welcome to RISI’s first ever Power List – a list of the 50 people who we consider to be the most influential in the global pulp and paper sector today. You may be wondering what this new addition to the magazine editorial calendar is all about and how we put it together, so before we reveal who has made the cut this year, here’s some background information to help you understand the work behind the Power List.

Impartial aspirations:

The editorial team at PPI and Pulp & Paper have canvassed opinion both inside and outside RISI to put together this ranking of influential people. Perhaps we should have called it the “Influential List”, but that doesn’t really have the same ring as the “Power List” does it? We’ve talked to representatives from all aspects of the industry to get their input into who is moving and shaking the pulp and paper sector and we’ve also gathered views from RISI’s news editors, economists and engineers. The result is what we hope will be an impartial Who’s Who’s of the global pulp and paper business.

“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” or so the saying goes. Putting together RISI’s first ever “Power List”, there has certainly been scope for “corruption” as we’ve received many suggestions and requests to add people to the list – unfortunately not many were accompanied with hefty bribes, so we listened to all the suggestions, took them on board and weighed up the pros/cons of each person individually.

Global take:

While our aim has been to give a neutral view, as with every ranking that is not compiled using a scientific method, it is going to be influenced somewhat by our experiences. Luckily, RISI is well positioned to give a complete as possible overview of the industry given that we have offices based in all regions of the world and our clients and readers come from all areas of the industry: from the NGOs to the end consumers, via the suppliers and producers.

As this is the first year that we’re publishing the Power List, we’ve also decided to include a run down of some of the most influential people in the pulp and paper over the course of history which you can find here: Those that went before.

Power to the people:

We wanted to put together a list that was not just a run down of the top CEOs in the industry (even if the top 20 is heavily populated with C-level executives). Our aim is to provide a picture of the different influencers who contribute to our global industry, including representatives from academia, environmental organizations, paper buyers, suppliers, etc.