PITTSBURGH, Aug. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- L.B. Foster Company (NASDAQ: FSTR), a leading manufacturer and distributor of products and provider of services for transportation and energy infrastructure, announced today that Raymond T. Betler has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors effective August 3, 2020. Mr. Betler brings a wide range of knowledge and skills to the board that includes more than four decades of experience in the transportation industry leading up to his most recent position serving as President & Chief Executive Officer of Wabtec (NYSE:WAB). On July 1, 2019, Mr. Betler retired as President & CEO of Wabtec after holding the position for five years. Prior to that, Mr. Betler held the positions of Chief Operating Officer, and Vice President and Group Executive of Wabtec’s Transit Group. He joined Wabtec in 2008 when revenue was approximately $1 billion and retired in 2019 when revenue was approximately $9 billion.

During Mr. Betler’s leadership at Wabtec, he oversaw two of the Company’s most strategic acquisitions, Faiveley Corporation in 2016 and GE Transportation in 2019. Prior to joining Wabtec, Mr. Betler spent 30 years with Westinghouse Transportation and its associated companies where his background in engineering helped him progress into management positions. As Vice President of Engineering and later President, he helped guide the Company through several successful transit systems projects that often exceeded $10 million in size and occasionally reached more than one billion dollars in value. Through Mr. Betler’s career, he has gained a wealth of knowledge in rail transportation systems and related technologies that are having an impact on the way rail operators are modernizing today.

Robert Bauer, L.B. Foster President & CEO commented on the appointment; “Ray is a seasoned executive who has led a multi-billion dollar public company focused on technologies and systems for transit and freight rail operators and OEM’s. The experience he has in the industry, coupled with his management experience of leading a complex multinational company, will bring valuable experience into our board room. We welcome his insight on strategic plans and specifically ideas around our evolution toward rail technologies.”

Mr. Betler also serves on the boards of Dollar Bank and CNX Midstream Partners. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering departments, including the Federal Transportation Center at CMU.

About L.B. Foster Company

L.B. Foster is a leading manufacturer and distributor of products and provider of services for transportation and energy infrastructure with locations in North America and Europe. For more information, please visit www.lbfoster.com.