OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2012. For the ninth time in the last 10 years, International Paper was named the Most Admired Company in the Forest and Paper Products industry by Fortune magazine. The award places International Paper in the company of such leading global brands as Apple, Google, Wal-Mart, United Technologies and American Express.

What differentiates the Fortune Magazine survey is its focus on polling industry experts, analysts and executives - thus taking full stock of the corporation as viewed by other corporate entities. To generate the ranking, each company was rated on a scale of 1-10 across different reputational categories. Of those categories, International Paper earned the top score in people management, use of corporate assets, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment and global competitiveness.

"Today's award is a reflection of your hard work and dedication to getting results," said Chairman and CEO John Faraci on March 2 to International Paper employees. "Our focus on people, customers and operational excellence while managing through tough economic conditions proved that the substance of our work matters. I'm extremely proud of more than 2000 employees at Russia for their many contributions. Congratulations on this well deserved recognition".

Franz J. Marx, President of International Paper Russia, added: "We are delighted to be named again as the most admired company by Fortune magazine. To maintain this position for nine of the previous ten years is an outstanding achievement and here in Russia it's a reflection of our continued commitment to sustaining excellence in everything we do for our people and our customers".