In Memory of Wesley B. Vance Sadly, in April 2003, Wes Vance, our former chief operating officer, died tragically when the private plane he was piloting crashed southeast of Columbus, Ohio, in Jackson County. Wes, age 45, was an avid pilot with more than 20 years of experience.

During his nearly three-year tenure at Diebold, Wes’ positive attitude had a profound impact on the company. He spearheaded several extensive cultural and operational changes throughout the organization.

He came to Diebold as president of the North America business unit and was named chief operating officer in 2001. As COO, he was responsible for managing the company’s global operations including research, development, manufacturing, purchasing, human resources, sales and service.

Wes was a deeply religious person who greatly valued family and friends. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers will always be with Wes’ family — his wife Mindy and their five children. All who knew and worked with Wes were impressed by his dedication, positive outlook, and warm and friendly manner. He will be greatly missed for his contributions, sincerity and kindness towards others.

Our efforts to leverage our core competencies are gaining momentum. The drive to improve election systems continues to grow – and it’s helping to drive our growth as well. Today, Diebold Election Systems is a clear leader in its field, reflecting our ability to apply self-service technology and security expertise to new markets offering significant potential. More than 60,000 touch-screen terminals are in place in several states, and major new contracts from Maryland and California were awarded to us in 2003.

Electronic voting has been a well publicized issue during the past year. We’re listening to all the concerns, and we’re improving. We have been working closely with federal and state elections officials, as well as third-party technical experts, to help ensure the functionality and security of our systems. We are committed to making certain that every person’s vote on our systems is secure and accurate.

We are building momentum by becoming a faster, more efficient and more responsive company. As important as the growth potential of the markets we serve contributes to the success of our company, our ability to capture this potential ultimately rests on how effectively we serve our customers. Toward that end, we strive constantly to improve how we do business, from how we gather customer input, to how we design, produce and implement our offerings. We constantly ask ourselves, “Do we understand customer needs and requirements – and do our customers think we do? Are the right tools in place to enhance communication, feedback and responsiveness?”

The launch of Opteva and Agilis illustrates this process of continuous improvement at Diebold terminal. Based on extensive primary research, and with significant customer and expert input along the way, we launched comprehensive, next-generation self-service solutions that are meeting with
strong support from financial institutions around the world.

We are building momentum in our efforts to create value for shareholders. Our track record of success, which I mentioned at the outset of this letter, demonstrates our commitment to building shareholder value. We remain focused on adding to this track record given the strength of our markets, our strong competitive positioning, our product and service offerings, and our operational and financial discipline.

Clearly, Diebold faces extraordinary possibilities across the markets and regions in which we do business. And just as clearly, we have all the ingredients – the financial resources, the technology, the product and service offerings, and the brand – to turn these possibilities into reality. But perhaps the most important quality we possess, and the most important contributor to our success, is the sharp focus, relentless energy and unquenchable enthusiasm of our people.

In short, we simply will not rest.

Sincerely,

Walden W. O’Dell
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer