Kent B. Foster

Chief executive officer and chairman of the board, Ingram Micro

Nationality: American.

Born: 1944, in North Carolina.

Education: North Carolina State University, BS, 1965; University of Southern California, MBA, 1969.

Family: Married; children.

Career: GTE Corporation, 1970–1976, supervising engineer; 1976–1977, vice president of operations; 1977–1978, regional vice president of network engineering and construction; 1978–1980, vice president of network planning, engineering, and construction; 1980–1981, vice president of planning and analysis; GTE Telephone Operations, 1981–1983, vice president of marketing and business planning; GTE Northwest, 1983–1985, president; GTE Telephone Operations, 1985–1989, group vice president; 1989–1995, president; 1993–1999, vice chairman of the board; GTE Corporation, 1995–1999, president; Ingram Micro, 2000–2001, president; 2000–, chief executive officer and chairman.

Awards: Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award, North Carolina State University, 1993.

Address: Ingram Micro, 1600 East Saint Andrew Place, Santa Ana, California 92705; http://www.ingrammicro.com.

After a career spanning nearly 30 years at GTE Corporation, Kent B. Foster became the president, CEO, and chairman of Ingram Micro, the world's largest wholesale provider of information technology (IT) products and services. Foster had helped to transform GTE from a local telephone service provider to a global leader in telecommunications services. After assuming leadership of Ingram Micro in 2000, Foster guided his new company through an unsettled period to stand on solid ground with a strong profit margin. Industry analysts described Foster's management style as calm, self-effacing, and focused on long-term goals rather than short-term changes.

Strong Record At Gte

A native of North Carolina, Foster attended North Carolina State University and received a degree in electrical engineering. After graduating, he served for three years in the U.S. Air Force and attained the rank of captain. He also earned an MBA from the University of Southern California during his military service. After leaving the Air Force, he became a supervising engineer with GTE Corporation. Foster quickly demonstrated his leadership skills at GTE, where he was appointed in 1976 to his first executive position as vice president of operations.

Foster proved himself over the next several years in different positions in network engineering and construction, corporate planning and development, and marketing and business planning. He was named president of GTE Northwest in 1983 when he was only 38, becoming the youngest operating president in the company's history. He served as group vice president of GTE Telephone Operations from 1985 to 1989 and as group president from 1989 to 1995. Foster became the CEO of GTE in 1995, a position he held until late 1999, when he retired after merger talks between GTE and Bell Atlantic. According to industry analysts, Foster decided to leave when he learned that he would not be part of the management of the merged companies.

Despite his decision to leave GTE, Foster had earned a reputation as a competent leader who had helped to make the corporation a leading telecommunications company offering a broad array of products and services, including local telephone service, nationwide long-distance wireless service, and directory and networking services ranging from dial-up Internet access to Web-based applications. He redirected GTE's focus to the Internet and data services and led the company's reentry into long-distance telephone services. Another major accomplishment was Foster's decision to change the company's cost structure to make it a more efficient competitor for local telephone business during deregulation. This change turned around GTE's core wireline business, which represented about 60 percent of its operating revenue. Industry analysts noted that Foster was able to keep GTE on an even keel through bad as well as good times, including one period of downsizing and other periods of rapid revenue growth and expansion. One industry analyst told reporter Scott Campbell, "He kept earnings growing at a pretty consistent clip" (Computer Reseller News, March 13, 2000).

A Short-Lived Retirement

After Foster had retired from GTE, he planned to relax for a few months and think about what he wanted to do next. In January 2000, however, he received a call from Jerre Stead, the chairman of Ingram Micro. Foster had known Stead as a former customer during the early 1990s, when Stead had served as the executive vice president of AT&T Global Information Solutions. Stead offered Foster the opportunity to replace him as CEO and president of Ingram Micro. Foster was approved by the company's board after two months of interviews and negotiations. He was also slated to become chairman when Stead retired in May 2001. Stead remarked that the board thought the job was a good fit with Foster's experience, which included "implementing an Internet strategy from a service standpoint," something Foster did at GTE (Computer Reseller News, March 13, 2000).

Many industry analysts were reserved at first about Foster's appointment, citing his lack of experience with product distribution. Foster, however, was pleased and optimistic about his new opportunity. Ingram Micro's long-term objective was to become the leading service provider of logistics and business automation, thus leveraging the company's worldwide infrastructure in 34 countries to support its rapid growth. Foster had the task of making this vision a reality. The AsianPulse News quoted Foster as saying, "Our objective will be to develop the opportunities and changes required in this rapid-fire industry to take this company to the next level" (March 7, 2000).

A Challenging Business Climate

Despite his initial optimism, Foster and his new company confronted a tumultuous market. By the time he arrived in 2000, Ingram Micro was already losing market share and many of its top-level executives as it struggled with the Internet's threat to traditional distribution channels. Furthermore, the entire global economy was experiencing a significant slowdown, especially the American technology market.

Over the next year Ingram Micro's sales and profits continued to lag as a result of the slow economy, but Foster began to win the praise of industry analysts for placing the company on a steadier footing. Before Foster's arrival, Ingram Micro had made a number of cutbacks that led to smaller-market clients taking their business elsewhere because of high turnover among Ingram Micro's sales account managers. At times these clients had difficulty getting any attention from the company's account managers. In response to complaints, Foster emphasized the importance of timely and efficient service to the management team at Ingram Micro. He guided the company into developing new support services aimed at small- and medium-size businesses, which represented a rapidly growing segment of the market. Industry analysts praised Foster for repairing frayed relationships with the solution provider executives who had criticized Ingram Micro for ignoring them in favor of large dot-com businesses. Tommy Wald, the president and CEO of Netforce Technologies and an Ingram Micro customer, commented, "I've been very impressed with [Foster's] ability to understand our issues as a reseller and develop strategic policies that will help us be more successful" (Computer Reseller News, November 12, 2001).

Although Ingram Micro had posted $31 billion in sales in 2000 and Foster had answered many of its customers' complaints, the company continued to struggle that year with the most challenging business environment in its history. Foster noted in an interview, "This is the sharpest downturn in the economy I have ever seen. It was almost as if in the latter part of November [2000] something happened and no one can put their finger on it" (Computer Reseller News, March 12, 2001).

Worse was to come. The company's sales fell 13 percent to $16.6 billion during the first nine months of 2002, while operating income fell 22 percent to $54.2. Ingram Micro lost a total of $264.9 million during this troubled period. Foster worked hard to keep customers, investors, and employees calm as he consolidated company facilities and laid off employees. He also led the company through a close examination of its various products, vendors, customers, and countries of operation. Despite the cloudy economic picture, analysts credited Foster with strengthening Ingram Micro's overall balance sheet. Moreover, the company's gross margins steadily improved during the first two years of his leadership, rising from 4.7 percent in 2000 to 5.5 percent in 2002. The industry analyst Robert Anastasi said in an interview, "You have to give the company a decent grade—[Foster] and the company—on where they are. I was very encouraged with the details of their restructuring plan" (Computer Reseller News, November 18, 2002).

Turnaround and Recovery

Foster was soon recognized by his peers as an effective chief executive. Ingram Micro won several industry awards in the first two years of Foster's leadership, including being listed in 2002 by Fortune as one of America's most admired companies and by IBM as Distributor of the Year in six of seven categories.

Foster worked throughout 2003 on making Ingram Micro the leading provider of information technology solutions. His second goal for the year was to continue increasing the flexibility of the company's cost structure and maximizing its operating income. In 2004 the company announced that its firstquarter earnings were $37.6 million, or 24 cents a share, which met the analysts' mean estimate and bracketed the company's own figure of 23 to 25 cents a share. Ingram Micro had improved significantly on its record from the previous year, when first-quarter earnings had been $10.1 million or 7 cents a share including charges. Ingram Micro's overall first-quarter sales rose 15 percent in 2004 from $5.47 billion to $6.28 billion. Foster commented, "We're starting to see demand for [information technology] products emerge" (Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2004).

Even though Foster expected less impressive results for Ingram Micro in the second and third quarters of 2004, he remained optimistic about the future of the world's largest IT provider. He was particularly enthusiastic about the company's new Choice Advantage program, which refurbished virtually every aspect of its customer service offerings. The program grouped pricing, shipping, sales, and technical support features into three levels that allowed clients to select the range of services best suited to their businesses. Foster commented in an interview in Computer Reseller News, "We felt there had to be a better way of custom-fitting our services to our customers" (April 12, 2004).

Management Style

Industry analysts observed that Foster's approach to management gave his executives considerable leeway in making decisions. He was also considered a consensus-oriented team builder who helped his executives concentrate their attention on the most important tasks. One reporter commented, "Foster's mantra to his management team [is]: ask each and every day what Ingram Micro can do to make solution providers more successful in the marketplace" (Computer Reseller News, March 26, 2001).

Considered a highly competent executive, Foster was also known for his low-key approach to management. Although he was regarded as soft-spoken, colleagues and analysts alike remarked that he did not back away from a challenge. He proved himself to be an effective leader with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and an ability to keep his focus. When Foster was appointed president and CEO of Ingram Micro, his predecessor Jerre Stead commented in AsiaPulse, "He has a track record of successfully uniting multiple business units made up of more than 100,000 employees behind a single purpose and objective to enable change, encourage team work and deliver consistent results" (March 7, 2000). Foster was asked on one occasion whether he had some advice for new managers. He responded, "The group needs to have a common understanding of where they are and where they want to be and when…. Once you do those two things, the manager's job is pretty much finished" (Computer Reseller News, November 18, 2002).

Foster also acquired a reputation for being straightforward with management, customers, and even reporters. When he took the job at Ingram Micro, he never pretended that he knew everything about the business or the industry in general. As one journalist noted, Foster didn't come aboard outlining grand schemes for the future, predicting growth rates, or presenting glorious images of his abilities and accomplishments. Foster said during the interview, "I don't want to talk about myself or my prior job because it is irrelevant" (Computer Reseller News, March 20, 2000).

Leadership Models

Foster maintained a steady hand in guiding Ingram Micro and continued to emphasize better customer service as the most effective way to improve his business. Known for his interest in reading as well as physical fitness, Foster was especially fond of biographies of the first presidents of the United States. He often spoke of his admiration for Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and other leaders of the young republic. He said on one occasion, "As I look back, I wonder why we were so lucky to have this group of people" (Computer Reseller News, November 18, 2002).

In addition to Foster's duties at Ingram Micro, he was a member of the boards of the Campbell Soup Company, the J. C. Penney Company, and the New York Life Insurance Company.

Sources for Further Information

Burke, Steven, "The Final Cut—Foster's Sharp Focus," Computer Reseller News, March 26, 2001, p. 22.

Campbell, Scott, "Ingram Micro's Future Lies in New CEO's Hands," Computer Reseller News, March 13, 2000, p. 116.

"CRN Interview: Kent Foster, CEO, Ingram Micro," Computer Reseller News, March 12, 2001, p. 108.

"CRN Interview: Kent Foster, CEO, Ingram Micro," Computer Reseller News, April 12, 2004, p. 22.

Crux, Mike, and Eric Hausman, "15—Kent Foster: Chairman & CEO, Ingram Micro—Foster Is Respected and Has Brought a Certain Calmness to the Distributor," Computer Reseller News, November 12, 2001, p. 113.

"Ingram Names New CEO," AsianPulse News, March 7, 2000.

Longwell, John, "No. 19—Kent Foster," Computer Reseller News, November 18, 2002, p. 126.

Markowitz, Elliot, "Knowing When to Say Nothing," Computer Reseller News, March 20, 2000, p. 15.

Pham, Alex, "Ingram Posts Threefold Rise in Quarterly Profit," Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2004.

—David Petechuk

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.lbfoster.com

L. B. Foster can help keep you on track whether you're riding the rails or cruising the open road. The company manufactures rail and trackwork for railroads and mass transit systems, and for industrial applications such as mining. It also sells and rents steel sheet piling and earth wall systems used in highway construction and repair, and H-bearing piling that supports bridges and high-rise buildings. L. B. Foster also supplies pipe coatings to the oil and natural gas industries and pipe products for industrial, municipal, and agricultural water wells.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2007:
Sales: $509.0M
One year growth: 30.6%
Net income: $110.7M
Income growth: 718.1%

Officers:
Chairman: Lee B. Foster II
President, CEO, and Director: Stan L. Hasselbusch
SVP, CFO, and Treasurer: David J. Russo

Competitors:
ALSTOM
Amsted
Meridian Rail Acquisition Corp

Incorporated: 1902
NAIC: 331221 Rolled Steel Shape Manufacturing; 33121 Iron
SIC: 3316 Cold-Finishing of Steel Shapes; 3317 Steel Pipe & Tubes

L.B. Foster Company manufactures and distributes rail and trackwork, piling, highway products, earth wall systems, tubular products, and portable mass spectrometers. The company began as a distributor of recycled rail to coal miners, but it has diversified into other industrial segments to serve customers in construction, transit, chemical, utility, and agricultural markets. Approximately 55 percent of L.B. Foster's revenues are derived from rail products, which include a full line of new and used rail, trackwork, and accessories. The company operates nine manufacturing plants and 15 sales offices.

L.B. Foster Company was founded by Lee B. Foster, who in 1902 started the company to distribute steel rail. During its early years, the company used mules to pull track out of coal mines, operating as a railway track recycler that resold 'relay' rail. Although L.B. Foster counted rail distribution as one of its business segments for the duration of the century, the company's diversification in later years added several new facets to its business that eventually overshadowed its original relay distribution business. As the company evolved, it diversified into the tubular and sheet products market, coupling its ventures into other realms of the steel business with geographic expansion. After more than a half century of business, the company's roots in the celebrated steel city of Pittsburgh were planted firmly, but longevity did not necessarily impart prolific growth. In terms of revenues, L.B. Foster's stature remained relatively diminutive until it struck upon a market that recorded explosive growth. The company's heyday arrived during the 1970s.

L.B. Foster latched onto the business that ignited its growth when it reached an agreement with Nippon Steel. The company agreed to take oil field pipe from Nippon Steel and process the pipe for use in oil rigs. L.B. Foster threaded the pipe and finished it, putting the company in a position to reap the benefits of a rapidly expanding oil exploration market. From 1973 to the early 1980s, the oil exploration market enjoyed astounding growth, creating a demand for finished pipe that exceeded supply. While other processors struggled to keep pace with the growth, L.B. Foster rose to the occasion, processing more than one million tons of pipe.

Ironically, the decade that delivered the greatest growth to L.B. Foster also marked the beginning of troubled times, precipitating a protracted financial tailspin. The problems surfaced not long after the Foster family ceded ownership of the company. In 1977, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) acquired L.B. Foster through a leveraged buyout (LBO), taking over the company that had evolved into a distributor and manufacturer of construction, rail, and tubular products. At the time, L.B. Foster was recording robust growth, exuding enviable financial health that KKR sought to cash in on four years later. In 1981, KKR and its backers sold 19 percent of L.B. Foster to the public, raising $31 million from the offering. The proceeds from the stock sale represented a financial boon for KKR considering that the company had paid $57 million for the 81 percent of L.B. Foster it controlled after the offering. It was not the last time L.B. Foster shareholders' loss would be KKR's gain.

At the time of the public offering, L.B. Foster was saddled with $64 million in long-term debt, or more than one-third of the company's market value. Shareholders eagerly paid $17 per share for a piece of the debt-laden company, but their zeal quickly soured when market conditions placed a stranglehold on L.B. Foster. In December 1981, not long after KKR officials celebrated the successful offering of L.B. Foster stock, the oil services industry was beset by a depression. The market that had vaulted L.B. Foster toward unprecedented riches began to sputter, causing the U.S. oil rig count to diminish significantly. Consequently, the pipe finishing plants that had worked feverishly to keep pace with demand experienced an alarming respite, as production at L.B. Foster's pipe finishing plants fell below 70 percent of capacity. The company's chairman, Milton Porter, subsequently made a regrettable decision. Porter, who had married into the Foster family during the 1940s, saw the recessive conditions in the oil exploration market as an opportunity to expand. He attempted to double the company's production capacity, hoping to better position L.B. Foster for the eventual upswing in oil exploration activity. The strategy backfired. Losses escalated throughout the first half of the 1980s, as the company's revenues from tubular products sank precipitously, falling from $367 million in 1981 to $176 million by 1985.

The errant decision to double capacity in the face of plunging demand was the first in a series of imprudent decisions that stripped L.B. Foster of its vitality. Porter retired in 1984, leaving the company in a precarious state. He was replaced by a longtime business associate of KKR named Edward Mabbs, who joined L.B. Foster from Incom International, where he had served as chief executive officer for the previous decade. Mabbs assumed his new title with more than a modicum of anxiety. L.B. Foster was floundering and seemingly destined for more profound trouble. Robert Kanters, an analyst who closely followed L.B. Foster, visited Mabbs not long after the new chief executive officer moved into his new office. In a November 2, 1987 interview with Forbes magazine, Kanters offered some insight into Mabbs's mindset. 'Mabbs had me in his office showing me all these graphs and charts and telling me why they had to do something other than oil tube threading,' Kanters revealed. 'He was saying the drill count is terrible, and we don't see this thing going anywhere for a long time. Mabbs said that we have to do something.' What followed was another egregious mistake made by an L.B. Foster leader.

Reportedly, Mabbs was under pressure from L.B. Foster's three KKR board members to diversify. Their advice, for which they charged L.B. Foster a $2.5 million fee to provide, convinced Mabbs to complete two acquisitions that moved the company into businesses entirely distinct from its core businesses. In February 1986, Mabbs paid $302 million to Kidde, Inc. for five architectural hardware and banking equipment businesses, which immediately mired L.B. Foster in debt. Annual interest payments stemming from the acquisitions were more than $42 million, thrusting the company into an untenable position. Mabbs quit, moving on to retirement in Florida, which paved the way for another KKR-appointed chief executive officer, Jerry Goldress. Goldress, who had helped rescue other KKR companies, faced grimmer prospects than his predecessors had, inheriting a company that was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. 'We had too much debt,' he was quoted as saying in the November 2, 1987 issue of Forbes. 'Creditor pressure was being brought to bear, and we were in trouble with our suppliers.'

Backed into a corner, Goldress chose the only option available for the beleaguered company. He decided to divest the ill-conceived acquisitions. The banking equipment group was sold in June 1987, followed by the sale of the architectural hardware group two months later. L.B. Foster obtained $337 million from the sale of the two divisions, which erased much of the company's debt but could do little to erase damage that had been done. L.B. Foster's stock, which had sold for $17 per share in 1981, had plummeted to barely more than $2 per share by 1987.

Shortly after completing the divestitures, Goldress stepped down as chief executive officer, having guided the company through its initial stage of restructuring. Goldress stayed on as chairman and relinquished his other title to Joseph H. Dugan, who became the fourth L.B. Foster chief executive officer in a three-year span. Unlike his predecessors, Dugan took control of a company without grave financial ills. Long-term debt had slipped below $10 million, and with finances under control, optimism--long absent from company headquarters--had returned. Company officials believed they could construct a sizable business around spiralweld pipe, used to transport water, as well as record appreciable growth in the company's traditional businesses in oil field pipe, rail products, and construction products. Along with the renewed optimism came an important change in the company's operating strategy. Roughly 65 percent of L.B. Foster's revenues were derived from the marketing products made by other companies, while the rest was collected from fabricating its own products. Dugan wanted more of a balance, announcing that in the future L.B. Foster would concentrate on manufacturing more of the products it marketed. Toward this end, the company committed to opening a new spiralweld pipe facility in Houston.

The restructuring process continued under Dugan's stewardship, nearing its end by the time Dugan resigned from the company to return to consulting work in 1990. Goldress resigned as chairman as well in 1990, replaced by James Wilcox. For Dugan's replacement, the board of directors returned the company to its roots. In May 1990, Lee B. Foster II was selected to head the company.

The founder's grandson, Foster gave the company what it had lacked throughout the 1980s: enduring leadership. Foster, who led the company throughout the 1990s, had been part of the family business for more than 15 years by the time he was appointed its leader. He had majored in engineering and anthropology at Cornell University and the University of Pittsburgh, forgoing a future in his academic disciplines to join L.B. Foster in 1974. Foster started as a clerk before joining the company's sales force, which took him to L.B. Foster offices in Orlando, Atlanta, and Houston. He took charge of the company's international sales program in 1980, and several years later he was selected to head the company's Southwest region. In his last post before completing his ascent of the company's managerial ladder, Foster was in charge of L.B. Foster's tubular products division, serving in such capacity from 1986 to 1989.

Foster, in his early 40s when he took command of the company, reiterated Dugan's commitment to the manufacturing side of L.B. Foster's business. By manufacturing more of the products it sold, the company could realize greater profit margins in value-added steel products such as threaded and coated pipe. Before the company could begin any significant investments in fabricating facilities, however, its core businesses needed to recover fully from the travesties of the 1980s. Much of L.B. Foster's business was dependent on federal government spending directed toward infrastructure projects, such as highways, bridges, and railways. Unfortunately for Foster, the first few years of his reign were pocked by a national recession, which hampered the company's recovery from its earlier miscues. In 1993 the federal government announced $30 billion in transportation and highway spending, giving the company 'a significant shot in the arm,' according to Foster's assessment in the March 8, 1993 issue of the Pittsburgh Business Times. The spending package provided a welcomed boost to the company's core businesses, but lackluster financial results continued to characterize L.B. Foster's performance during the decade. Foster's response, evident during the latter half of the decade, was to enter new markets through acquisitions and create more diverse distribution channels for the company's expertise in rail, construction, and tubular products.

During the late 1990s, there were several significant deals completed by Foster that described his company's progress at the end of the century. In May 1997, the company acquired Monitor Group Inc. from Industrial Scientific Corp., organizing the acquisition into a separate L.B. Foster division. Monitor Group manufactured portable mass spectrometers used to measure gas compositions and concentrations, a new field of business for L.B. Foster. The applications for Monitor Group's spectrometers were varied, including monitoring air quality for the mining industry and as a process monitor and diagnostic tool in chemical manufacturing industries.

L.B. Foster's next acquisition represented less of a distant reach, strengthening one of the company's core competencies rather than moving it far afield. In November 1997, the company acquired Georgetown, Massachusetts-based Precise Fabrication Corporation. The addition of Precise, a steel fabricator, gave the company a regional manufacturing facility in the New England market and it enabled the company to offer a comprehensive selection of components to the highway, bridge, and transit markets. A similar advantage was gained from L.B. Foster's next acquisition, completed in December 1997. The company purchased Watson-Haas Lumber Company, a supplier of iron clad and steel ties to the mining industry. Like the purchase of Precise, Watson-Haas's inclusion within the company's fold enabled L.B. Foster to offer its customers a more complete package of products, specifically all the rail and track requirements demanded by the mining industry.

As the 1990s drew to a close, appreciable financial growth continued to elude L.B. Foster. Although the company was consistently profitable, its revenues were essentially flat, increasing a mere $8 million between 1994 and 1999. By the end of the decade, the Monitor Group had not yet generated any revenues, frustrating company officials who had miscalculated the acquisition's market readiness. L.B. Foster executives suffered through another delay, after operating without a domestic sheet piling supplier from March 1997 forward. In September 1997, the company reached an agreement with Chaparral Steel to become the firm's exclusive North American distributor of steel sheet piling and 'H' bearing pile, but the agreement was pending the completion of Chaparral's new Richmond, Virginia facility. By the end of the decade, the Richmond facility had not been completed. Two acquisitions that the company hoped would produce more immediate results were completed in 1998 and 1999. In August 1998, L.B. Foster acquired the Geotechnical Division of VSL Corporation, giving the company a leading supplier of mechanically stabilized earth wall systems. In June 1999, the company purchased CXT Inc., a manufacturer of engineered prestressed and precast concrete products used in the railroad and transit industries. As L.B. Foster prepared for the 21st century, hopes were pinned on these new acquisitions to provide a spark to the company's financial totals.

Principal Subsidiaries

CXT Incorporated.

Principal Divisions

Foster Rail; Foster Piling; Foster Precise; Foster Fabricated Products; Foster Coated Pipe.

Principal Competitors

ABC-NACO Inc.; DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems; AMSTED Industries Incorporated.

Further Reading

Antonelli, Cesca, 'L.B. Foster Could Pile on the Profits with Chaparral Distribution,' Pittsburgh Business Times, September 12, 1997, p. 6.

Clements, Jonathan, 'Thank You, Kohlberg Kravis,' Forbes, November 2, 1987, p. 38.

Cotter, Wes, 'Will Infrastructure Finally Rescue L.B. Foster?,' Pittsburgh Business Times, March 8, 1993, p. 12.

'Foster Buys Fabricator,' American Metal Market, November 20, 1997, p. 3.

Haflich, Frank, 'Northwest Pipe Buying Foster Unit,' American Metal Market, March 2, 1998, p. 3.

Kovatch, Karen, 'Industrial Scientific Corp. Unloads Its Monitor Unit to Eager L.B. Foster,' Pittsburgh Business Times, March 31, 1997, p. 2.

'L.B. Foster Acquires Midwest Rail Assets,' Railway Age, July 1993, p. 22.

'L.B. Foster Ups Railroad Stake,' American Metal Market, January 22, 1999, p. 4.

Petry, Corinna, 'Chaparral, Foster Join Forces on Piling,' American Metal Market, September 5, 1997, p. 2.

Teaff, Rick, 'Foster Returns to Family Ties,' Pittsburgh Business Times, May 14, 1990, p. 10.

------, 'L.B. Foster Keeps Bonds with Its Railroading Past,' Pittsburgh Business Times, May 22, 1989, p. 2S.

------, 'L.B. Foster Leaves Restructure Year with Profits,' Pittsburgh Business Times, February 15, 1988, p. 8.

— Jeffrey L. Covell