Ceradyne Inc. Names Jerrold Pellizzon as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Vice President

    COSTA MESA, Calif.--Sept. 25, 2002--Ceradyne, Inc. names Jerrold J. Pellizzon as Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Vice President Finance and the newly-created position of Chief Administrative Officer. The Company also announced the formation of an executive committee to be responsible for strategic planning, as well as focusing on short-term tactical issues related to growth and increasing profitability. The committee will consist of Chief Executive Officer Joel Moskowitz, Corporate Vice President and Advanced Ceramic Operations General Manager David Reed, and Pellizzon.
    Pellizzon's career of more than 20 years includes positions as chief financial officer, chief operations officer and chief executive officer with various industrial and manufacturing companies, ranging from start-ups to $100 million sales operations. His financial responsibilities have included systems and reporting, financing and cash management, capital budgeting, acquisitions, and cost containment and profit growth. Other responsibilities included strategic planning, information systems, risk management, and operations systems and controls. A licensed CPA, Pellizzon received a bachelor's degree in economics from UCLA in 1975.
    Moskowitz commented: "I am very pleased to have Jerry join the Ceradyne executive team. I believe he will greatly assist Ceradyne by providing a well-structured financial environment, including reporting systems that will promote and maintain bottom line growth that matches our sales growth. I am also excited about our newly-established executive committee consisting of Dave Reed, Jerry Pellizzon and myself, which will target Ceradyne's growth and profit potential."
    Pellizzon replaces Howard George, who served as Ceradyne's CFO since 1995. Mr. George's departure from Ceradyne did not result from any disagreements over accounting issues or policies.
    Ceradyne develops, manufactures and markets advanced technical ceramics for industrial, electronic, defense and consumer applications. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.ceradyne.com.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of Ceradyne that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.