Timken Co.’s Jon Elsasser, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, has been recognized by IDG's Computerworld as one of the business world's Premier 100 IT Leaders.

Elsasser was selected from nearly 500 nominees who were measured against Computerworld's IT Leadership Index, a set of characteristics that describes executives who guide the effective use of IT in their organizations, and evaluated by the editors and by an external panel of outside judges.

"We're working hard at The Timken Co. to focus all of our resources around delivering unparalleled value and innovation for the customer," said Elsasser. "The IT function is an integral part of that mission, using a dynamic combination of services, projects and consulting to fuel the ongoing transformation of the company. I am pleased to accept this recognition on behalf of the whole Timken IT team, and we look forward to building on our efforts to deliver the technology resources Timken needs to drive new growth and success across our businesses."

Elsasser, who joined Timken in 1978, was named to his current position in 2003. He has held a number of management positions of increasing responsibility across his 27 years with company. Following a succession of senior leadership roles in Latin American and Europe, Elsasser returned to Canton in 1997 as Group Vice President in charge of rail bearings for Europe, Africa and West Asia. He was named Senior Vice President — Corporate Development in 2000 and Senior Vice President — E-business & Corporate Planning in 2003.

Elsasser graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree in economics from The College of William and Mary and from Harvard University with a master's degree in business administration. At Harvard, he was named a Baker Scholar, a distinction awarded to the top 5 percent of each graduating class.

The executives, including Elsasser, will be honored at a special, black-tie ceremony at Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference, which takes place March 5-7, 2006, in Palm Desert, Calif. The complete class of Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2006 can be found in the Dec. 12, 2005 issue of Computerworld and online at http://www.computerworld.com.

Computerworld, the "Voice of IT Management," is the most trusted source for the critical information needs of enterprise IT management. Computerworld's integrated offerings form the U.S.-based hub of the world's largest (51-edition) global IT media network through its weekly publication, Computerworld.com website, focused conference series and custom research. In the past five years alone, Computerworld has won more than 100 print and online awards for editorial and design excellence, surpassing its direct competition by an order of magnitude. Recognition includes the 2004 Magazine of the Year Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors and a Jesse H. Neal Award for "Best News Coverage." In print since 1967, Computerworld is the source for information technology management, with a guaranteed rate base of 180,050, a total print audience of 1,293,000 (IntelliQuest CIMS 2005 Business Influencer Study) and an online audience of over 1.1 million unique monthly visitors (DoubleClick).

Computerworld is a business unit of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading technology media, research and events company. A privately held company, IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers. The company features the largest network of technology-specific websites, with more than 400 around the world. IDG is also a leading producer of more than 170 computer-related events worldwide, including LinuxWorld Conference & Expo^(R), Macworld Conference & Expo^(R), DEMO^(R), and IDC Directions. IDC provides global market research and advice through offices in 50 countries.