Gore Marks 10th Year as One of Nation's Best, Company Earns #10 Position on FORTUNE Magazine "100 Best Companies to Work For" List

NEWARK, DE, JANUARY 8, 2007- - W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., maker of GORE-TEX® fabric and thousands of other innovative products, today announced it has earned a position on FORTUNE magazine’s annual list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" for the 10th consecutive year.  The magazine ranks Gore number 10 overall and number 7 among medium-sized companies.  The list and related stories appear in the January 22 issue of FORTUNE, available on newsstands January 15 and at www.fortune.com January 8.

Since its founding in 1958, Gore has avoided traditional hierarchy, opting instead for a team-based environment that fosters personal initiative, encourages innovation, and promotes person-to-person communication among all “associates,” as employees are known.  This kind of unique corporate structure has proven to be a significant contributor to associate satisfaction.  

Gore President and CEO Terri Kelly said being recognized once again as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For reinforces Gore’s commitment to its strong culture and core values. “All of our practices stress maximizing individual potential, cultivating an environment that fosters creativity, and operating with high integrity in everything we do,” Kelly said. “Our success in bringing the many innovative products to market would not be possible without the strength and commitment of our associates.”

For the past several years, Gore’s facilities in the UK, Italy and Germany have also been named as one of the Best Companies to Work For in those countries.

Perhaps best known for its consumer products like GORE-TEX® fabric and ELIXIR® guitar strings, Gore is a leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products for the electronics, industrial, fabrics and medical markets. The company is headquartered in Newark, Delaware, posts sales of approximately $2 billion, and employs almost 8,000 associates at 50 facilities throughout the world.

About the FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For" List

Authors Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz of the Great Place to Work Institute in San Francisco initiated the collection in 1984 with a best-selling book, 100 Best Companies to Work For in America. Gore is one of only four companies to be included in their three hardbound and ten subsequent rankings in FORTUNE magazine.   Selection and ranking were based on two criteria: an evaluation of the policies and culture of each company, and the opinions of the company’s employees. The latter is given more weight; two-thirds of the total score comes from employee responses to a 57-question survey which goes to a minimum of 400 randomly selected employees from each company. More than 100,000 employees from 446 companies participated in the survey this year. It asks about things such as attitudes towards management, job satisfaction, and camaraderie within the organization. The remaining one-third of the score is based on an evaluation of each company's demographic makeup, pay and benefits programs, and culture.  Companies are scored in four areas: credibility (communication to employees), respect (opportunities and benefits), fairness (compensation, diversity), and pride/camaraderie (philanthropy, celebrations).  Companies that are at least seven years old and have 1,000 or more employees are eligible for the list.  Information about applying for the next list can be found at www.greatplacetowork.com.

Contact: 
  Ed Schneider
  302.292.4062
  eschneid@wlgore.com
  www.gore.com