The recent weak data should remind us that the exceptional gains in business confidence and new export orders may be overly optimistic.

It's quite likely that we have now seen the peak in the current business sentiment cycle.

The worst in retail sales should be behind us. A recovery of private consumption is in the cards this year.

Joe's tremendous leadership throughout his six years as Koch Industries' president and chief operating officer gives us confidence he will deliver more of the same at Georgia-Pacific. Bill, during his 32 years with Koch, has done an exemplary job of building our operations excellence capability. I am certain Joe and Bill, along with the outstanding Georgia-Pacific team, will continue Georgia-Pacific's proud tradition.

Joe's tremendous leadership throughout his six years as president and chief operating officer gives us confidence he will deliver more of the same at Georgia-Pacific. In Bill's 32 years with Koch, he has done an exemplary job of building our operations excellence capability. I am certain Joe and Bill, along with the outstanding Georgia-Pacific team, will continue Georgia-Pacific's proud tradition.

Business managers don't want to come here because you have a former business manager on the board,