Pomponio joins Strategic Rail Finance
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefJoseph R. Pomponio, the former Director of the Railroad Rehabilitation and Infrastructure Financing (RRIF) program at the Federal Railroad Administration, has joined the consulting staff of Strategic Rail Finance.
Pomponio will apply his background in financial law and FRA’s RRIF program in support of Strategic Rail Finance’s RRIF loan clients and their rail development projects.
Pomponio was Director of the RRIF program from 2002 to 2008. As director, he oversaw the largest Federal direct loan and loan guarantee program ever established for the railroad industry, authorized at $35 billion. He supervised loan application evaluations and presentation of proposed loans to a Department of Transportation Credit Council, and coordinated all transactions with the Office of Management and Budget. Prior to taking over the RRIF program, Pomponio was Senior Attorney with the FRA’s Office of Chief Counsel from 1978 to 2002.
Strategic Rail Finance, founded in 1994 by Michael Sussman, coordinates sales, mergers, acquisitions, and financing of rail-related businesses. It has advised companies in 28 states, including securing the largest RRIF loan to a single Class III railroad in the history of the program. The firm facilitates private- and public-sector funding of rail-related infrastructure for clients and advises state and federal government on rail transportation policy.
