The Greenbrier Companies promoted William Krueger, the current chief operating officer for its manufacturing business, to president of its manufacturing operations. In this role, Krueger will be responsible for all new railcar manufacturing operations in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Romania and Turkey, as well as global design, engineering, sourcing, logistics and quality. He will report to Lorie Tekorius, president and CEO of Greenbrier.

Alejandro Centurion, the former executive vice president and president of Greenbrier’s manufacturing operations, retired from his roles on Aug. 31. Centurion will continue as chair of Greenbrier Europe’s supervisory board. In this role, he will maintain primary supervision of Greenbrier Europe’s manufacturing operations. He will also remains a senior advisor to Tekorius and Krueger until September 2023, completing 18 years of service to Greenbrier.

“Alejandro has been a key contributor to Greenbrier’s growth over the last two decades,” Tekorius said. “When he joined in 2005, Greenbrier’s manufacturing revenue was $844 million based on a few railcar types and has grown to more than $2 billion today as we build almost every commercially-available railcar design. We’ve added facilities in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Mexico, Romania and Brazil during Alejandro’s tenure. Finally, our manufacturing employee base has increased from 3,533 in 2006 to approximately 16,000 people today. On behalf of Greenbrier’s management team and board of directors, I thank Alejandro for his many years of dedicated service.”

“I am pleased that Bill has accepted this position, adding to his responsibilities within our senior management team. He brings vast experience to this position and has displayed ingenuity, compassion and leadership over his two years at Greenbrier,” Tekorius said. “He is well-suited to succeed Alejandro and continue enhancing our manufacturing operations. We look forward to Bill’s additional contributions as president of GMO.”

“Bill’s appointment as president of GMO advances Greenbrier’s strategic objectives. Our actions today demonstrate a strong succession plan which strengthens our North American and international operations. I look forward to working together with Lorie and Bill on special projects, especially those impacting our European operations,” Centurion said.

Before Krueger joined Greenbrier in 2020, he served as chairman of JATCO Americas and executive vice president of JATCO Global, a manufacturer of automatic transmissions. Before joining JATCO, Krueger held various senior management positions at major automotive manufacturers, including Toyota and Nissan. He began his career at General Motors in 1985.