MeadWestvaco Corp. (MWV), the Stamford, CT-headquartered conglomerate formed by the January 30, 2002 merger of Mead and Westvaco, announced restructuring plans that will benefit the city of Dayton. Prior to the merger, Mead Corp. had been located at 10 West 2nd St. in downtown Dayton, where the company employed 880 people and occupied 208,900 square feet of office space. Although the company plans to cut employment nationwide by 400 jobs, an additional 70 jobs will be created in Dayton. These positions will be added to MeadWestvaco's downtown Dayton corporate office which houses the engineering, information technology, legal, procurement and logistics departments. A research and development facility in Chillicothe, OH will also be awarded 40 new jobs. 545 employees will be released with financial and separation benefits from locations in Charleston and Summerville, SC; Richmond and Covington, VA; and Laurel, MD. MeadWestvaco is a leading global producer of packaging, coated and specialty papers, consumer and office products, and specialty chemicals. The corporation has annual sales of $8 billion, operates in 33 countries, employs 30,000 people worldwide, and manages 3.5 million acres of forest.