Joseph M. Taylor Appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Panasonic Corporation of North America

SECAUCUS, N.J., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Corporation of North America, a market leader in Plasma HDTVs, announced the appointment of Joseph M. Taylor as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Panasonic is the principal North American subsidiary of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. .

Mr. Taylor is responsible for leading key corporate strategic business initiatives, building alliances for Panasonic and heading the company's newly organized XCS Division, which is aimed at achieving extreme customer satisfaction. He also heads Panasonic's Information Technology, Procurement, Facilities and Real Estate functions as well as its Customer Call Centers and Panasonic's internal Service and Technology companies.

In addition to his expanded role in Panasonic's U.S. operations, Mr. Taylor has been named an Executive Officer of parent company Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. effective April 1, 2007. Through this position, Mr. Taylor will be involved in formulating and executing Matsushita Electric's global business strategy. He is the first American ever to be appointed an Executive Officer in Matsushita Electric.

Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Mr. Taylor was President and Chief Operating Officer of Panasonic Industrial Company, as well as Vice President and Member of the Board of Panasonic Corporation of North America. As President of Panasonic Industrial Company, which he joined in 1983, Mr. Taylor led all of Matsushita Electric's North American industrial business activities.

Mr. Taylor has also represented Panasonic in numerous technical educational initiatives with New Jersey's Liberty Science Center, the Herrick Laboratories of Purdue University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University. He has been a Member of the Board of the National Association of Manufacturers and serves on the boards of several Panasonic companies.

About Panasonic

Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America markets a broad line of digital and other electronics products for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan, and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Information about Panasonic and its products is available at http://www.panasonic.com/. Additional company information for journalists is available at http://www.panasonic.com/pressroom.