Gemplus: Board Changes

Gemplus International will propose three new non-executive Directors for election to its Board, at the Companys Annual General Meeting on 27 April 2004. Kurt Hellstrom, 61, is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson, the major telecommunications group, where he spent almost 20 years in a number of senior roles. Earlier in his career, he held commercial positions with Jugner Instrument and Standard Radio & Telephone. A Master of Science in Electrotechnology, Kurt is a highly respected figure in the mobile telecommunications industry, and brings to Gemplus exceptional experience of developing technology from a commercial perspective. John Ormerod, 55, is a Senior Partner in the UK practice of Deloitte, the global accounting firm. Educated at Oxford, he was previously Regional Managing Partner, UK & Ireland, of Andersen, where he also spent six years as Head of European Technology, Media & Telecommunications. John is a Chartered Accountant who brings to Gemplus highly relevant experience of reporting and corporate governance issues in NASDAQ-listed TMT companies; after his election, he will join the Board on June 1st, 2004, when he retires from Deloitte. Michel Akkermans, 44, is a successful entrepreneur specialising in information technology for the banking industry. A Master of Science in Electronic Engineering and Computer Sciences, he is currently Chairman and Chief Executive of Clear2Pay, a software solutions company that helps financial institutions to provide branded electronic payment services. Michel was previously Executive Chairman of NASDAQ-listed S1 Corporation, the market leader in internet banking. His experience of developing and marketing security solutions to the financial services sector is of particular interest to Gemplus. These three non-executive directors are proposed to replace Ron Mackinstosh, Randy Christofferson and Thierry Dassault, who will not be proposed for re-election by the Board to shareholders.