Xerium Appoints Stephen Light Chairman of the Board

YOUNGSVILLE, N.C., Jul 21, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Xerium Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:XRM), a leading global manufacturer of clothing and roll covers used primarily in the paper production process, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Stephen R. Light, Xerium's President and Chief Executive Officer, as its Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Board also has appointed Michael Phillips, who has served as a director since December 1999, to the new position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. John S. Thompson, who stepped down after serving as board chairman since July 2004, will continue to serve as a director.

"The entire board and I are very grateful to John for his stewardship during times of momentous change and progress, including the IPO, a major debt refinancing, and a smooth transitioning to new leadership," commented Stephen R. Light. "We look forward to continuing to benefit from John's wisdom and experience as an active member of our board. All of us at Xerium are fully committed to moving forward with our recently announced strategic repositioning, which calls for us to improve this company's financial strength and operational efficiency to the benefit of our numerous stakeholders, which includes all of our employees, suppliers, customers, and shareholders."

Mr. Light joined Xerium as President and CEO, as well as a director, in February 2008. Prior to joining Xerium, he completed a highly successful turnaround of Flow International Corp. (NASDAQ:FLOW), the world's largest producer of industrial waterjet cutting and cleaning equipment. Mr. Light also served as President and CEO of OmniQuip Textron, and held senior level management positions at General Electric, Emerson Electric and N.V. Phillips.

Mr. Phillips is a partner with private equity firm Apax Partners Beteiligungsberatung GmbH, which is an affiliate of Apax Europe IV GP Co. Ltd., the beneficial owner of approximately 54.3% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Xerium Technologies. Mr. Phillips joined Apax Partners in 1992, he is a member of the global Executive Committee and Apax Approval, Investment and Exit Committees and he leads the Munich office.

Mr. Thompson has served as a director and chairman of the Board since July 2004. He served as Chief Executive Officer of SPS Technologies, Inc., a manufacturer of specialty fasteners, assemblies, precision components, metalworking, magnetic products and superalloys listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE"), from April 2002 to December 2003, when he retired. He also served as its President and Chief Operating Officer from October 1999 to March 2002, and as a director from April 2000 to December 2003.

About Xerium Technologies

Xerium Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:XRM) is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of two types of consumable products used primarily in the production of paper: clothing and roll covers. The company, which operates around the world under a variety of brand names, utilizes a broad portfolio of patented and proprietary technologies to provide customers with tailored solutions and products integral to production, all designed to optimize performance and reduce operational costs. With 35 manufacturing facilities in 15 countries around the world, Xerium has approximately 3,700 employees.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that relate to future events or to our future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond our control and that could materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. These factors include: (i) our revenues and profitability could be adversely affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates; (ii) our profitability would be reduced by a decline in the prices of our products; (iii) our profitability could be adversely affected by fluctuations in interest rates; (iv) we may not be able to develop and market new products successfully or we may not be successful in competing against new technologies developed by competitors; (v) our credit facility contains restrictive covenants, including covenants requiring compliance with minimum interest coverage and fixed charge coverage ratios and maximum leverage ratios, that will require us to improve our performance over time in order to comply therewith; (vi) our credit facility, as amended, prohibits the payment of dividends on our common stock; (vii) we may have insufficient cash to fund growth and unexpected cash needs after satisfying our debt service obligations due to our high degree of leverage and significant debt service obligations; (viii) we are subject to the risk of weaker economic conditions, including without limitation those affecting the paper industry, in the locations around the world where we conduct business, including current turmoil in the credit markets; (ix) we may be required to incur significant costs to reorganize our operations in response to market changes in the paper industry; (x) we are subject to the risk of terrorist attacks or an outbreak or escalation of any insurrection or armed conflict involving the United States or any other country in which we conduct business, or any other national or international calamity; (xi) we are subject to any future changes in government regulation; (xii) we are subject to any changes in U.S. or foreign government policies, laws and practices regarding the repatriation of funds or taxes and (xiii) those other risks described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2007 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and subsequent SEC filings. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from what we projected. Any forward-looking statement in this press release reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties, and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy, and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE: Xerium Technologies, Inc.

SBG Investor Relations Geoffrey Buscher, 508-532-1790
   IR@xerium.com 

Copyright Business Wire 2008 **********************************************************************
   As of Thursday, 07-17-2008 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend� Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an
   UPTREND on 05-09-2008 for XRM @ $3.21. For more information on SmarTrend, contact your market data provider or go to www.mysmartrend.com
   SmarTrend is a registered trademark of Comtex News Network, Inc. Copyright � 2004-2008 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights
   reserved.