LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., Feb. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greenbrier
Companies (NYSE: GBX) today announced that Alejandro
Centurion and Jim Sharp have been named as corporate Executive
Vice Presidents by its Board of Directors, in recognition of their
leadership and significant accomplishments. Mr. Centurion,
who most recently was President, Greenbrier North American
Manufacturing Operations, will also expand his role as President,
Greenbrier Global Manufacturing Operations, which includes
responsibility for North America,
Europe, China and Brazil. Mr. Sharp continues as
President of Greenbrier Leasing Company (GLC), a position he has
held since 2004. Additionally, Greenbrier announced today
that Brad Skinner has joined the
company as Vice President, Business Development, reporting to
Greenbrier Chairman and CEO, William A.
Furman. Mr. Skinner is responsible for managing
specific strategic objectives and initiatives to diversify and grow
Greenbrier's business.
Sharp and Centurion join Mark
Rittenbaum, Greenbrier's Chief Financial Officer, as
Executive Vice Presidents of Greenbrier. Rittenbaum helped
Greenbrier achieve ambitious financial and strategic performance
goals over the last several years, earnings him peer recognition as
the Portland Business Journal's Oregon Public Company CFO of the
Year in 2014.
In a newly created position as Senior Vice President,
Brian Comstock will manage
commercial activities and strategy for the Mexico, Brazil and Latin
America markets working closely with the CEO, and with
company executives in those regions, as well as with Greenbrier's
Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, William Glenn. Comstock also continues as
General Manager of Marketing & Sales with responsibility for
the U.S. and Canada, reporting to
Glenn. This structure, along with the appointment of Skinner,
further defines Greenbrier's broad-based Americas' strategy,
anchored by the Company's large manufacturing presence in
Mexico and recently announced
expansion into Brazil.
Under Centurion's and Sharp's leadership, Greenbrier's
Manufacturing and Leasing & Services segments are the Company's
two most profitable and fastest growing businesses. These
operations, combined with the Company's two other significant
units, have collectively driven record financial performance in
recent quarters. The two units are Wheels & Parts, led by
Senior Vice President Rick Turner,
and GBW Railcar Services, Greenbrier's 50/50 repair joint venture
with Watco led by its CEO and Greenbrier Senior Vice President,
Operations, Jim Cowan. Cowan
was formerly President and CEO of railcar manufacturer American
Railcar Industries, Inc. (ARI), a public company competitor of
Greenbrier, controlled by Carl
Icahn.
Centurion joined Greenbrier in 2005 to run the Company's
manufacturing operations in Mexico. This followed his long
career with Bombardier, where he was in charge of Mexico and later its North American
manufacturing network for passenger railcars, light rail and
locomotives. While at Bombardier in Mexico, Centurion formed the manufacturing
joint venture for freight cars between Bombardier and Greenbrier in
the state of Hidalgo which became highly successful under his
leadership. In 2007, Centurion was promoted to President of
Greenbrier's North American Manufacturing Operations. Since
2007, Greenbrier's manufacturing revenues have more than doubled,
and are expected to exceed $2 billion
in fiscal 2015. Centurion's leadership team includes
Martin Graham who joined GMO in 2013
as its Executive Vice President of Materials Management,
Engineering and Operations. Graham is the former President of
Trinity Rail North American Freight, a unit of Trinity Industries,
Inc., where he oversaw all aspects of Trinity's freight car
operations in the U.S., Canada,
and Mexico. Graham continues his
work supporting Greenbrier's manufacturing operations in
North America and will
additionally direct and support manufacturing functions in
Europe, China and Brazil.
"As we expand our geographic footprint in Manufacturing, we are
best served by one Global Manufacturing Operations unit that
directs our worldwide manufacturing activities and shares best
practices. Alejandro and Martin will direct our international
operations as a team. We continue to add to our management
team strength," said William A.
Furman, Chairman and CEO.
Sharp joined Greenbrier in 1996, following a long career in
industrial transportation management, building materials
manufacturing and the railcar leasing business. Prior to
leading GLC, Sharp served as Vice President of Marketing and
Operations from 1999 to 2004 and was Vice President of Sales from
1996 to 1999. With a fleet of over 8,500 owned railcars and
240,000 railcars under management, GLC is one of the largest
railcar leasing and asset management platforms currently operating
in North America. Under Sharp's
leadership, Greenbrier's Leasing & Services business has grown
in recent years from less than $100
million in lease underwriting and syndication transactions
in fiscal 2011 to an anticipated transaction volume of over
$700 million in fiscal
2015.
"Over a short period, Jim and his team have grown GLC into a
robust, asset-light railcar leasing and asset management platform
that today is a key driver of Greenbrier's business," Furman said.
"GLC continues to expand as it enters new global markets and
attracts international investment capital."
In addition to his new responsibilities at Greenbrier, Skinner
serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of OmniTRAX, a large
U.S. short line railroad, which is part of the Broe Group out of
Denver, Colorado. Skinner is
also a member of the Board of Directors of the Westway Group, a
chemical terminal company based in New Orleans. A veteran
rail industry executive, Skinner has delivered significant
accomplishments for both public and private companies including
Schneider National, Southern Pacific Railroad, Fritz Companies, TFM
in Mexico, and more recently with
OmniTRAX. Furman continued, "Greenbrier is dedicated to
continued excellence in product quality, integrity, reliability and
service to our customers as well as respect for our workforce, and
communities, as we drive improvements in long-term capital
efficiency, ROIC and shareholder value."
About Greenbrier Companies
Greenbrier, (www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a leading supplier of
transportation equipment and services to the railroad industry. We
build new railroad freight cars in our 4 manufacturing facilities
in the U.S. and Mexico and marine
barges at our U.S. manufacturing facility. Greenbrier also
sells reconditioned wheel sets and provides wheel services at 9
locations throughout the U.S. We recondition, manufacture and
sell railcar parts at 4 U.S. sites. Greenbrier is a 50/50
joint venture partner with Watco Companies, LLC in GBW Railcar
Services, LLC which repairs and refurbishes freight cars at 39
locations across North America,
including 14 tank car repair and maintenance facilities certified
by the Association of American Railroads. Greenbrier builds new
railroad freight cars and refurbishes freight cars for the European
market through our operations in Poland. Greenbrier owns approximately 8,500
railcars, and performs management services for approximately
238,000 railcars.
"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION
REFORM ACT OF 1995: This press release may contain
forward-looking statements, including statements regarding expected
new railcar production volumes and schedules, expected customer
demand for the Company's products and services, plans to increase
manufacturing capacity, restructuring plans, new railcar delivery
volumes and schedules, growth in demand for the Company's railcar
services and parts business, and the Company's future financial
performance. Greenbrier uses words such as "anticipates,"
"believes," "forecast," "potential," "goal," "contemplates,"
"expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "hopes," "seeks,"
"estimates," "strategy," "could," "would," "should," "likely,"
"will," "may," "can," "designed to," "future," "foreseeable future"
and similar expressions to identify forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from in the results contemplated by the forward-looking
statements. Factors that might cause such a difference
include, but are not limited to, reported backlog and awards are
not indicative of our financial results; uncertainty or changes in
the credit markets and financial services industry; high levels of
indebtedness and compliance with the terms of our indebtedness;
write-downs of goodwill, intangibles and other assets in future
periods; sufficient availability of borrowing capacity;
fluctuations in demand for newly manufactured railcars or failure
to obtain orders as anticipated in developing forecasts; loss of
one or more significant customers; customer payment defaults or
related issues; actual future costs and the availability of
materials and a trained workforce; failure to design or manufacture
new products or technologies or to achieve certification or market
acceptance of new products or technologies; steel or specialty
component price fluctuations and availability and scrap surcharges;
changes in product mix and the mix between segments; labor
disputes, energy shortages or operating difficulties that might
disrupt manufacturing operations or the flow of cargo; production
difficulties and product delivery delays as a result of, among
other matters, inefficiencies associated with expansion or start-up
of production lines or increased production rates, changing
technologies, transfer of production between facilities or
non-performance of alliance partners, subcontractors or suppliers;
ability to obtain suitable contracts for the sale of leased
equipment and risks related to car hire and residual values;
integration of current or future acquisitions and establishment of
joint ventures; succession planning; discovery of defects in
railcars or services resulting in increased warranty costs or
litigation; physical damage or product or service liability claims
that exceed our insurance coverage; train derailments or other
accidents or claims that could subject us to legal claims; actions
or inactions by various regulatory agencies including potential
environmental remediation obligations or changing tank car or other
rail car or railroad regulation; and issues arising from
investigations of whistleblower complaints; all as may be discussed
in more detail under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Forward
Looking Statements" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended August 31, 2014,
and our other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's
opinions only as of the date hereof. Except as otherwise
required by law, we do not assume any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (GBX)