CIT Group Inc. announced that CIT Rail, a full service lessor and owner of one of the youngest, most diversified fleets of rail assets in North America and Europe, appointed Ken Pierson as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Locomotives. He will be responsible for managing the sales, mechanical and operations functions of CIT Rail’s locomotive business. Pierson will report directly to George Cashman, President of CIT Rail.

“Ken is a very strong business leader with solid business development skills and in-depth product knowledge,” said Mr. Cashman. “He brings a wealth of experience to this position, including building and managing large locomotive sales, service and distribution channels, which will play an important role as we continue to build our business.”

Pierson joins CIT from Wabtec MotivePower, where he served as Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing. In this role he developed and implemented locomotive/railway product growth strategies, including expansion into new domestic/international markets. In addition, Pierson was responsible for the Global Customer Service team. Prior to Wabtec, he worked for GE Transportation for 10 years, most recently as Commercial Leader, Asia-Pacific, with responsibility for locomotives, signaling, parts and service/overhauls in the region.

Pierson attended the University of Missouri, Henry W. Bloch School of Management’s Master’s program and received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The State University of New York at Stony Brook.