Written by: William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief Mark J. Rittenbaum, Executive Vice President, Commercial & Leasing at The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. is transitioning to President of Greenbrier Leasing Corp. (GLC), in anticipation of James T. Sharp’s retirement Dec. 31, 2016. Sharp will continue in an advisory role through 2016 and beyond, assisting with transition and special projects. “The organizational changes will further integrate Greenbrier’s Leasing and Management Services businesses with its Commercial activities, building on the substantial growth and success of the integrated leasing business developed during Sharp’s 20-year tenure at Greenbrier,” the company said. “Greenbrier continues to serve global markets for its products and services, while maintaining the high-quality experience expected by Greenbrier’s customers.” Rittenbaum will have oversight responsibilities for all Commercial & Leasing activities in North America and Latin America, with particular emphasis on new railcar sales, leasing and enhancement of customer service design. Jim Cowan, President of Greenbrier International, will oversee Commercial activities in all railcar markets outside the Americas, while continuing as CEO of GBW Railcar Services LLC, Greenbrier’s railcar repair and refurbishment joint venture with Watco Cos. LLC. Alejandro Centurion continues as President of Greenbrier’s Global Manufacturing Operations (GMO). Centurion is credited with implementing Greenbrier’s global manufacturing and engineering system for new railcar manufacturing. Currently, GMO’s global output accounts for approximately 75% of Greenbrier’s annual worldwide revenue. GLC will continue to align its leasing and management services businesses to emphasize three primary areas of business activity: Lease Underwriting, Lease Syndication and Asset Management Services (GMS). These areas will be led by three Greenbrier veterans who currently report to Rittenbaum: Larry Stanley, Senior Vice President, GLC Finance, will lead Lease Underwriting; Brian Conn, Managing Director, Structured Financial Products, will lead Lease Syndication; and Dan Weiler will serve as Senior Vice President Asset Management, leading GMS. Greenbrier’s Commercial organization includes Greenbrier’s field sales operations and commercial administration headed by Brian Comstock, Senior Vice President, General Manager Commercial, Americas Region and Tom Jackson, Vice President, Marketing. “Greenbrier is becoming more global, leveraging our scale, and moving closer to our customers,” said William A. Furman, Chairman and CEO. “We have a focused ‘go-to-market strategy’ that serves our integrated business model and reflects our expanded worldwide activities. Thanks to the talents and vision of Jim Sharp, we have grown a small railcar leasing company into a very successful asset-light leasing and asset management business that manages more than 268,000 railcars and originates almost $1 billion of railcar leases annually. Most of this product is syndicated and sold to institutional partners with underlying assets managed by Greenbrier over the life of the equipment. I greatly appreciate Jim’s 20 years of service to Greenbrier.” “We have a deep pool of talented people and highly capable teams in place within our Leasing, Management Services and Commercial organizations,” Rittenbaum said. “I know that the current high levels of integration and coordinated effort will only grow as we continue to collaborate within this new organizational structure. My goal is to build on the platforms created by Jim and the GLC team, along with our Commercial organization.” Continue reading...
