Nov. 28, 2006 — Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. announced the appointment of Laurie Brlas as Senior Vice President—Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, effective December 11, 2006. Brlas replaces acting CFO Donald J. Gallagher, who recently assumed the position of President of North American Iron Ore.

Brlas comes to Cliffs having served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Steris Corp. from 2000 to the present. Prior to that, she was with OfficeMax for five years, most recently as Senior Vice President and Controller.

Brlas has had an extensive accounting and financial career spanning more than 20 years. A graduate of Youngstown State University, she brings a distinguished list of honors and awards to her new role at Cleveland-Cliffs, including the honor of being named Ohio Financial Executive of the Year in 1997 by the Institute of Management Accountants.

"We are very pleased to welcome Laurie to Cliffs,” commented CEO Joseph A. Carrabba. “She has an impressive track record with hands-on experience in a wide variety of roles at other publicly traded global companies. We look forward to Laurie joining us and feel she will make an excellent addition to our management team.”

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, selling the majority of its pellets to integrated steel companies in the United States and Canada. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. operates a total of six iron ore mines located in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada. The company is majority owner of Portman Limited, the third-largest iron ore mining company in Australia, serving the Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipping fines and lump ore.