Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Principal Officers; Election of
Directors; Appointment of Principal Officers.

Appointment of Principal Officers

Effective December 31, 2008, Widjaja Jiemy, age 50, retired from Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. ("the Company"). Since May 2005, Mr. Jiemy was President of Southeast Asian Operations and General Manager of the Company's 50 percent owned joint venture, China Tobacco Mauduit (Jiangmen) Paper Industry Company, Limited (CTM). Replacing Mr. Jiemy, Arnold Alvarez will become General Manager of Southeast Asia Operations with responsibility for the Company's Indonesian and Philippines paper operations and for sales of all the Company's papers in the region, reporting to Otto Herbst, Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Alvarez, age 40, joined the Company as General Manager, PDM Philippines Industries, Inc. in July 2007. Replacing Mr. Jiemy as General Manager of CTM is Steve Jiang, age 44, who joined the Company in June 2008 as Senior Manager of China Paper Products as part of the planned succession.

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