Electro-Motive Names CFO

Electro-Motive Diesel, one of the two U.S. builders of big line-haul locomotives for the rail freight industry, tapped Michael P. O'Donnell to come in as its executive vice president and chief financial officer.

EMD had operated for several months with an interim CFO, a company official said.

O'Donnell was formerly a board member, executive vice president and CFO at Xerium Technologies, in Youngsville, N.C., a builder of textile belts and other products for papermaking machinery, and worked in executive slots with other industrial firms before that.

EMD President and CEO John Hamilton called O’Donnell “a seasoned, global financial executive experienced in leading complex businesses,” who can help EMD “in these challenging times.”

Both EMD and GE Transportation, the other large maker of heavy-haul power units for freight railroads, have seen their customers in the large North American railroads idle thousands of locomotives as the sharp downturn in traffic has cut the need to run as many engines and trains.

The suppliers could get a boost from new government investments in passenger rail systems, however. And some freight lines have continued to buy new engines to replace older ones that do not burn fuel as efficiently or that generate more diesel exhaust.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com .