CIT Group: Owens is Out; Is Peek Next?

On Friday, October 3, 2008, CIT Group Inc. (CIT) announced that Walter Owens resigned as President of Corporate Finance, effective immediately. The company will issue its financial results for the quarter ending September 30, 2008 before the market opens on Thursday, October 16, 2008. No comment on Owens' resignation was made except for the SEC filing. The shake up, which began with Rick Wolfert resigning and Thomas Hallman retiring, continues.

In January, 2007, Owens then 46, was named President of CIT Corporate Finance.

In this newly created position he will work closely with CIT’s Corporate Finance business unit leaders to assess their current go-to-market models; develop an integrated distribution platform to serve a broad range of product offerings and customer segments, and improve operational efficiencies. He will report directly to Rick Wolfert, CIT Vice Chairman, Commercial Finance, and will continue to serve as a member of the Office of the Chair.

In making the announcement, Jeffrey M. Peek, CIT Chairman/CEO, said it, "...serves as a natural progression for Walter who drove the build-out of our sales force over the past 18 months" when he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of CIT.

Under his stewardship, he oversaw the expansion of the Company’s sales force by nearly 30%, established a sales technology infrastructure, embedded Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) in each business unit and built a proactive sales culture. As a result of these efforts, CIT’s expanded,  strengthened the sales force and grew organic originations by more than 50% in 2006.

In April this year, on the announcement of $252 million first quarter loss, plus the announcement that they had agreed to sell $4.6 billion of asset-based loan commitments and $770 million worth of aircraft, and that it was exploring the possibility of shedding its $4 billion rail-leasing business, Walter J. Owens, President, CIT Corporate Finance received 106,292 restricted shares (shares at press time: $13.54/Stock value: $1,439,193; Friday it closed at $6.97 making it $740,855 today, if he had not exercised the stock before this day.) It should be noted that the Monitor Magazine has CIT as the third largest leasing company with $35.9 billion in 2007.

Prior to joining CIT, Owens served as Chief Marketing Officer for GE (GE) Commercial Finance where he was responsible for executing growth strategies for existing and new products and markets. Other key positions held at GE included Managing Director and General Manager of GE Small Enterprise Services and Managing Director of Global Securitization for GE Capital Market Services. Owens also led the Heller integration into the GE Corporate Finance Services unit.

Before GE, Owens served as Vice President at Citibank's Corporate Policy & Advisory Group from 1990 to 1992. He began his career in 1982 where he held a number of positions at Deloitte, Haskins and Sells in the Accounting and Auditing Services Division.

Owens is a Certified Public Accountant. He received his BS from Villanova University and his MBA from New York University.

Comments

[Jas1:]

Owens seems like a growth guy and right now that is not what CIT is doing. They are shrinking the balance sheet.

2008 Oct 09 10:11 AM