Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Rainier Advanced Materials fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions with instructions to follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Mr. Mickey Walsh, Treasurer and Vice President of Investor Relations for Rainier Advanced Materials. Thank you. Mr. Walsh, you may begin.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome again to Rainier Advanced Materials' fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings conference call and webcast. Joining me on today's call are Vito Consiglio, our President and Chief Executive Officer at Paul Boynton, our Vice Chair, and Marcus Maltner, our Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance. Our earnings release and presentation materials were issued last evening and are available on our website at rainieram.com. I'd like to remind you that in today's presentation, we will include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws. Our earnings release, as well as our filings with the SEC, list some of the factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we may make. They are also referenced on slides two and three of our presentation material. Today's presentation will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures as noted on slide four of our presentation. We believe non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for management and investors, but non-GAAP measures should not be considered an alternative to GAAP measures. A reconciliation of these measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included on slides 18 through 23 of our presentation. I'll now like to turn the call over to Paul for some introductory remarks.

Hey, thanks, Mickey, and good morning, everyone. As you know, I stepped down as President and CEO of the company January 1 and assumed the role of Vice Chair of the Board. With the completion of our portfolio optimization in 2021, which included the sale of our lumber and newsprint assets. The company was able to reposition itself with a stronger balance sheet and four biorefinery assets well aligned towards the accelerating demand for sustainable bio-based product solutions. This alignment, coupled with strong demand for our industry-leading cellulose specialties products, creates an ideal time for a leadership transition. As I shared my retirement plans with the Ryan Board of Directors some time ago, the board was able to undertake a deliberate and thoughtful search for the company's next leader. We were fortunate to find Vito Consiglio, a seasoned industry executive with extensive global industrial experience and a proven track record of achieving commercial and operational excellence over a 30-year career, working for specialty material companies such as Roman Haas, Dan Hur, and Ashland. Prior to joining RIAM, Vito's most recently served as an advisor to private equity on deals within the chemicals industry. And prior to that, he was chief commercial officer at Ashland, a valued customer of Rainier Advanced Materials. And even though I'll step down from the board in May, I'll remain advisor to Vito for the balance of the calendar year to ensure a smooth transition. And of course, I will also remain a large shareholder with continued interest in the value growth of RIAM. I'm excited for our future. Vito has a strong vision for the company, and I'm confident he's the right person to lead us into our bio future. And so with that, I'm excited to introduce to you our president and CEO, Vito Consiglio.