LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., April 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greenbrier
Companies (NYSE: GBX) announced today the election of Kelly M. Williams to the Company's Board of
Directors. The election of Ms. Williams increases
Greenbrier's Board of Directors to nine members, seven of which are
independent.
Ms. Williams' credentials include over 15 years' experience in
the private equity industry.
Ms. Williams is President of GCM Grosvenor Private Markets, and
a member of its Investment Committee and Management
Committee. GCM is one of the world's leading managers of
private markets fund investment and co-investment programs, with
over $22 billion in assets under
management. Prior to joining GCM Grosvenor, Ms. Williams was
a Managing Director and the Group Head of the Customized Fund
Investment Group of Credit Suisse's private equity group.
Prior to joining Credit Suisse, she was an executive director of
Prudential's private equity group, where she co-founded the
Customized Fund Investment Group in 1999. Prior to joining
Prudential, Ms. Williams was an Associate with Milbank, Tweed,
Hadley & McCloy LLP, where she specialized in global project
finance. She graduated magna cum laude from Union College in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Political Science and Mathematics and received her Juris
Doctor from New York University School of
Law in 1989. She is a member of the New York bar and is active in many
professional and charitable organizations.
"We are delighted to have Kelly
Williams join Greenbrier's Board," said William A. Furman, chairman and chief executive
officer of Greenbrier. "Kelly is an experienced and highly
successful leader in the private equity industry, with significant
involvement spanning many businesses and industries. She will
give Greenbrier insight into new opportunities for expansion, as
well as areas of focus for investors. Her expertise and
experience, with particular emphasis on investments and access to
capital, will be extremely helpful to the Company."
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 10
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 8,300
railcars, and performs management services for approximately
241,000 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)