Former United States Senator Scott Brown Joins Kadant Board of Directors

WESTFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) announced that former U.S. Senator Scott Brown, (R-MA), was appointed to Kadant’s board of directors at its meeting today. This appointment was made following the retirement of Mr. Francis L. McKone, a member of Kadant’s board of directors since 1998.

“His good judgment and pragmatic approach to solving problems will be a strong asset to Kadant as we continue to grow our business throughout the world.”

“During his time in public office, Senator Brown has gained a wealth of experience on local, state, national and international issues and I am pleased that he has agreed to join our board of directors,” said Jonathan W. Painter, president and chief executive officer of Kadant Inc. “His good judgment and pragmatic approach to solving problems will be a strong asset to Kadant as we continue to grow our business throughout the world.

“Senator Brown’s appointment to our board reflects our strong ties to Massachusetts. Kadant was founded in Massachusetts, our headquarters is in Westford and one of our principal manufacturing facilities is in Auburn. Another former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Paul Tsongas, also served on our board of directors in the 1990s.”

“I am honored to have the opportunity to contribute to Kadant and learn more about the challenges of an international business,” Senator Brown said. “Kadant has been on the forefront of designing and manufacturing equipment to recycle and produce paper for decades. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experiences and contributing to the future direction and growth of this global leader.”

Kadant Inc. is a leading supplier to the global pulp and paper industry. Our stock-preparation; fluid-handling; and doctoring, cleaning, and filtration products are designed to increase efficiency and improve quality in pulp and paper production. Many of our products, particularly in our fluid-handling product line, are also used to optimize production in other process industries. In addition, we produce granules from papermaking byproducts for agricultural and lawn and garden applications. Kadant is based in Westford, Massachusetts, with revenues of $335 million in 2011 and 1,700 employees in 17 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.kadant.com.

The following constitutes a “Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including forward-looking statements about our products and technologies. Our actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Kadant’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 29, 2012. These include risks and uncertainties relating to our dependence on the pulp and paper industry; significance of sales and operation of manufacturing facilities in China; our ability to adjust operating costs and manufacturing sufficiently in China to meet demand; commodity and component price increases or shortages; international sales and operations; competition; soundness of suppliers and customers; our effective tax rate; future restructurings; soundness of financial institutions; our debt obligations; restrictions in our credit agreement; our acquisition strategy; protection of patents and proprietary rights; failure of our information systems or breaches of data security; fluctuations in our share price; and anti-takeover provisions. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.