LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., Feb. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greenbrier
Companies, Inc. (NYSE: GBX) announced today that its CFO,
Mark J. Rittenbaum, has been
promoted to the newly created position of Executive Vice President,
Commercial, Leasing and Finance. Lorie L. Tekorius, Senior
Vice President and Treasurer, has been promoted to Senior Vice
President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Both
Rittenbaum and Tekorius will report to Chairman and CEO
William A. Furman.
In this newly created position, Mr. Rittenbaum will shift his
primary focus to commercial activities, with particular emphasis on
new railcar sales, leasing and integration/enhancement of customer
service design. Senior commercial officers William Glenn and Brian
Comstock, as well as Jim
Sharp, President of Greenbrier's Leasing and Management
Services business, will report to Mr. Rittenbaum. Chairman
and CEO Bill Furman said,
"Greenbrier has built a tremendous 'go to market strategy' that
serves its integrated business model and expanded world-wide
activities. In the process, we have grown a very successful
asset-light leasing and asset management business. We
continue to add value solutions for our customers and shareholders,
as our business becomes larger and adjusts to a changing
environment. It is time to further integrate our commercial
and leasing functions to better serve our goals of cost-efficient
growth and service to our customers."
Mr. Rittenbaum will chair a newly created Executive Committee
reporting to the Chairman and CEO. The Committee will be
responsible for helping to frame policy over a wide range of
business, administrative, financial and strategic areas, as well as
streamlining service design and achieving service and cost
synergies across the Company. The Committee will include
Victoria McManus, Executive Vice
President and Chief Strategic Officer, and Martin Baker, Senior Vice President, General
Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. "The Executive
Committee will free up a substantial portion of my time to focus
more on longer term strategies for Greenbrier, and to operate the
Company." said Furman. "Global Manufacturing, the Wheels and
Parts business, and GBW Railcar Services, a repair joint venture
with Watco Companies, will continue to report to me."
Ms. Tekorius brings strong experience to the CFO position at
Greenbrier. She has been with Greenbrier for over 20 years in
various financial capacities, most recently as Senior Vice
President and Treasurer, a position she has held since 2012.
She is a Certified Public Accountant, with a BBA in accounting from
Texas A&M University, and began her
professional career with Coopers & Lybrand. "Mark and
Lorie have done an excellent job at the financial helm of
Greenbrier and have worked closely together for years. I'm
confident we will continue our solid financial footing, and be well
positioned for growth and change," said Furman. "Lorie also
has the discipline and Company knowledge to help review, manage and
adjust our General and Administrative expense profile to
appropriate levels during changing market environments. She
has chaired our strategic and budget process for several years and
will continue to work with Victoria
McManus and me in that important function.
Adrian Downes, Greenbrier's Senior
Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, will report to Lorie.
Adrian has done a great job with our IT, accounting and
tax organization, and will continue to play a strong role on our
senior management team."
Furman added, "Greenbrier is fortunate to have incredible depth
of talent on its executive bench. I am pleased to recognize the
many contributions made by Mark and Lorie and to increase their
roles in senior management of Greenbrier. I am proud of our entire
management team and see these changes as an opportunity to put our
seasoned executive expertise to even greater use in a fluctuating
environment."
About Greenbrier
Greenbrier (www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, is a leading supplier of
transportation equipment and services to the railroad industry.
Greenbrier builds new railroad freight cars in manufacturing
facilities in the U.S., Mexico and
Poland and marine barges at our
U.S. manufacturing facility. Greenbrier sells reconditioned wheel
sets and provides wheel services at locations throughout the U.S.
We recondition, manufacture and sell railcar parts at various U.S.
sites. Through GBW Railcar Services, LLC, a 50/50 joint venture
with Watco Companies, LLC, freight cars are repaired and
refurbished at over 30 locations across North America, including more than 10 tank car
repair and maintenance facilities certified by the Association of
American Railroads. Greenbrier owns a lease fleet of over 10,000
railcars and performs management services for over 250,000
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 adjust
manufacturing capacity, restructuring plans, new railcar delivery
volumes and schedules, changes 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; sovereign risk to contracts, exchange rates or
property rights; 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, costs or inefficiencies associated with expansion,
start-up or changing of production lines or changes in 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, 2015,
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)