James Sawyer was appointed chief financial officer for Praxair in 2000. He is responsible for the company's finance, audit, treasury, accounting, tax, information technology and investor relations functions.

Sawyer joined Praxair in 1992 as assistant treasurer and was appointed vice president and treasurer in 1994. Prior to 1992, Sawyer held several financial management positions with Union Carbide Corporation (Praxair's former parent) in the U.S. and Europe.

A native of Greenwich, Connecticut, Sawyer holds a bachelor of science degree in geology and environmental sciences from Wesleyan University, and a master's degree in business administration from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Conference Board's Senior Financial Officer's Council and the Financial Executives Institute.

Sawyer was named Senior Financial Officer of the year by Chemical Week magazine in 2003. Praxair has been ranked in the forefront of corporate governance by Institutional Shareholder Services, Governance Metrics and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Praxair is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, and one of the largest worldwide, with 2002 sales of $5.1 billion. Praxair products, services and technology bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, chemicals, electronics, energy, food and beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, metals and others. More information on Praxair is available on the Internet at www.praxair.com.