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Greenbrier Appoints Lorie Tekorius as CEO… (Cont.) | | Page 2 |
In addition to her career at Greenbrier, since 2019, Tekorius has served as an independent director on the Board of Directors of Alamo Group Inc. (NYSE: ALG), which manufacturers equipment for infrastructure maintenance, agricultural and other applications. She is an active community member, serving as President of the Providence St. Vincent Medical Foundation Council of Trustees. She holds a BBA in accounting from Texas A&M University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Tekorius has also received many recognitions for her leadership, including being named one of 25 “Women of Influence” by the Portland Business Journal. The publication also named Tekorius “CFO of the Year” in 2018 alongside recognition by Railway Age as one of 14 “Women in Rail” for her contributions to the rail industry. In 2020, she was recognized as a Manufacturing Institute STEP Ahead Honoree, which is awarded to women leaders in STEM career paths.
“I’m deeply honored to have the opportunity to succeed Bill. I will continue to build on the strong foundation that Bill has established as we move to the next phase of meeting the world’s evolving freight transportation needs. I am highly confident about our future and look forward to further accelerating the value we bring to our stakeholders,” said Lorie Tekorius, President & CEO.
Added Fargo, “On behalf of Greenbrier’s Board, we thank Bill for his outstanding leadership and deep commitment to the organization. His contributions as Founder and CEO will be long remembered both at Greenbrier and throughout the freight transportation industry he redefined through his leadership. During his tenure, Bill transformed Greenbrier into a publicly traded company valued in the billions of dollars. His innovation, unrelenting focus and dedication to safety, quality and respect will long remain in the fabric of Greenbrier’s culture and operations.”
After earning an undergraduate degree in Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, Furman earned a Master’s Degree in Transportation Economics at Washington State University, studying under Dr. James C. Nelson, a prominent rail economist, academic and intellectual father of the Staggers Act, which deregulated the North American railroad industry in the 1970s.
In 1967, Furman began his career in the Treasury Department of FMC Corporation working in risk management and finance. FMC Corporation (FMC), was a Fortune 500, multinational industrial and national defense company. Furman formed the FMC Finance Division, which financed a broad array of railcars and other products from FMC’s diversified machinery group such, as Link Belt Speeder Cranes, agricultural equipment from its John Bean Division, snowmobiles, garden tractors, irrigation equipment, airport equipment and even fire trucks. Furman left FMC in 1971 to run the Leasing, Lease Underwriting and Syndication business unit at Trans Pacific Financial Corporation in Portland, Oregon, his home state, where his family roots were in Eastern Oregon’s Union County. Trans Pacific was a publicly-traded financial services company in Portland. Its CEO at the time was Furman’s friend, Alan James, an early pioneer in commercial jet aircraft leasing. James also served as an engineer at Sylvania’s Electronics Defense Laboratories, working on classified national defense projects. From there he went to Boeing as a contract attorney team member on the SSI project and contract lawyer for Middle East affairs. Later at GATX-ARMCO-Boothe, James was senior vice president, responsible for its substantial growth in commercial jet aircraft leasing. In 1974, Furman and James purchased the Trans Pacific National division, a capital lease asset underwriter. The purchase created James Furman and Co., a lifelong partnership, initially specializing in railcar and commercial jet aircraft asset management and remarketing businesses. The acquisition would lead to the founding of Greenbrier in 1981, through the acquisition of its predecessor in Huntington, West Virginia. Greenbrier grew from
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