Vincent K. Petrella was<br /> elected Chief Financial Officer at a meeting of the Lincoln Electric Holdings,<br /> Inc. (Nasdaq:   LECO) Board of Directors, it was announced today.  Mr. Petrella<br /> succeeds H. Jay Elliott, who will be retiring from the Company March 31, 2004.<br /> Mr. Petrella has served as Acting Chief Financial Officer for the Company<br /> since Jan. 1, 2004.<br />     Mr. Petrella joined Lincoln in 1995 as Manager of Internal Audit and was<br /> responsible for the development and organization of the Company's internal<br /> audit function.  He was named Corporate Controller in 1997 and elected an<br /> officer of the Company in 2001. Prior to joining Lincoln, Mr. Petrella was<br /> with the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers for 13 years and held a<br /> number of management-level positions, including a two-year assignment in the<br /> firm's London office.<br />     Mr. Petrella graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College with a bachelor of<br /> arts in accounting in 1982 and received his CPA in 1984. He is a member of the<br /> Ohio Society of CPAs and the American Institute of Certified Public<br /> Accountants.<br />     Lincoln Electric is the world leader in the design, development and<br /> manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc-welding systems, plasma and<br /> oxyfuel cutting equipment.  Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Lincoln has<br /> operations, manufacturing alliances and joint ventures in 18 countries and a<br /> worldwide network of distributors and sales offices covering more than 160<br /> countries.  For more information about Lincoln Electric, its products and<br /> services.