All business operations organized by markets
in The Americas and Europe
supporting strategic goals
Adrian Downes to step
down as Chief Financial Officer; National search commences for next
CFO
Succession plan completed for Chief Legal
Officer
LAKE
OSWEGO, Ore., Jan. 8, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE: GBX)
today announced a new business operations organizational structure
supporting its "Better Together" business strategy, unveiled at its
April 2023 Investor Day. The
streamlined organization is designed to drive organizational
effectiveness, improve efficiency, leverage best practices and
improve customer experience to drive greater shareholder value. The
company also announced planned changes in the Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) role and the completion of a succession plan for the
leadership of its Legal function.
Lorie Tekorius, CEO and
President, said, "Since Greenbrier's formation in the 1980s, we
have grown to lead in all markets where we operate. Now is the time
to leverage the benefits of scale and standardization. The changes
being announced today will bring greater focus and accountability
to our operating units while driving efficiency in our enabling
functions. To advance to Greenbrier's next growth phase, we must
continue collaborating and working Better Together as a unified
organization."
Greenbrier's structure now frames its operating activities in
two distinct geographies: The Americas and Europe. Brian
Comstock, a 26-year Greenbrier veteran with more than four
decades of railway industry experience, assumes responsibility for
all operations in The Americas, which includes the United States, Mexico, Canada and Brazil. William
Glenn, who has spent more than 20 years at Greenbrier in
various roles, assumes responsibility for all operations in
Europe. Greenbrier's Board of
Directors has appointed Comstock as Executive Vice President &
President, The Americas and Glenn as Senior Vice President &
President, Europe. Both Comstock
and Glenn continue to report to Tekorius.
"I am confident changes in our business operations will support
progress on our strategic priorities and Greenbrier will continue
to excel as we simplify our structure. These changes are intended
to support and empower Greenbrier employees across the
organization. The new organizational design of our business
operations provides the right platform for the next phase of our
growth and to deliver value for all Greenbrier stakeholders,
especially our employees, customers and shareholders," Tekorius
said.
In addition to Greenbrier's new business operations framework,
Adrian Downes will step down
as CFO on or about March 31,
2024. Downes continues as Greenbrier's Principal Financial
Officer until he transitions to serve the company as a senior
advisor to the CEO through March
2025. Greenbrier has begun a national search for its next
CFO.
"Among his many contributions, Adrian took actions critical to
strengthening our balance sheet, helped Greenbrier's expanding
global operations platform integrate with accounting and finance,
and aided the development of our long-term strategic plan. We
appreciate Adrian's dedication and service," Tekorius
said.
On January 4, Greenbrier's Board
appointed Christian Lucky as Senior
Vice President, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer (CLO/CCO),
reporting to Tekorius. Lucky's appointment completed a planned
succession from Martin Baker, who
served as CLO/CCO since 2008. Baker now serves as Senior Vice
President, reporting to Tekorius.
Tekorius concluded, "Over 16 years of service, Martin modernized
Greenbrier's legal function. Under his leadership, our legal team
helped Greenbrier adapt and respond to the challenges of rapid
growth. Christian possesses the right background and experience to
lead Greenbrier's newly-formed Legal and Administration team to
address our future needs."
About Greenbrier
Greenbrier, headquartered in Lake
Oswego, Oregon, is a leading international supplier of
equipment and services to global freight transportation markets.
Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries and joint ventures,
Greenbrier designs, builds and markets freight railcars in
North America, Europe and Brazil. We are a leading provider of freight
railcar wheel services, parts, maintenance and retrofitting
services in North America through
our maintenance services business unit. Greenbrier owns a lease
fleet of approximately 14,100 railcars that originate primarily
from Greenbrier's manufacturing operations. Greenbrier offers
railcar management, regulatory compliance services and leasing
services to railroads and other railcar owners in North America. Learn more about Greenbrier at
www.gbrx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements,"
including statements that are not purely statements of historical
fact. Greenbrier uses words, and variations of words, such as
"advance," "anticipated," "confident," "create," "continue,"
"drive," "future," "improvement," "increase," "initiative,"
"position," "progress," "provided," "strategy," "target," "will,"
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 the results
contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that might
cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, the
following: an economic downturn or economic uncertainty; shortages
of skilled labor, increased labor costs, or a failure to maintain
good relations with our workforce; price volatility for supplies to
our business as well as goods and services in our industry;
mismatch of supply and demand, interruptions of supply lines,
inefficient or overloaded logistics platforms, among other factors
which may cause the markets for the inputs to our business to fail
to operate effectively or efficiently, and material disruption of
rail traffic or material delay in the movement of our products to
customer delivery points. More information on potential factors
that could cause our results to differ from our forward-looking
statements is included in the Company's filings with the SEC,
including in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections
of the Company's most recently filed periodic report on Form 10-K
and subsequent reports on Form 10-Q. Except as otherwise required
by law, the Company assumes no obligation and does not intend to
update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak
as of their respective dates. Readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect
management's opinions only as of the date hereof.
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SOURCE The Greenbrier Companies, Inc.