Helm Financial Corporation announces Management Changes

November 1, 2007

Helm Financial Corporation headquartered in San Francisco , California , today announced a number of promotions and changes in their management structure. John F. Dains, Chief Executive Officer has relinquished the title of President.

Courtney A. O’H. Williams has been named President and Chief Operating Officer.  Courtney joined Helm in 1996 from BancBoston Leasing.  She was most recently Senior Vice President – Operations at Helm and was in charge of the Operations area for Helm’s owned and managed railcar fleet, the Logistics for both the railcar and locomotive fleet, the railcar repair, inspection and maintenance departments, and Helm’s proprietary asset information and repair systems. Ms. Williams will report to Mr. Dains.

Joseph F. McKenney has been named Executive Vice President – Strategy and will also report to Mr. Dains.

Joseph F. Lencewicz III has been named Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer and will report to Ms. Williams as will Barbara Wilson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Matthew M. Ogburn, Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel; and Kenneth W. Miller, Jr., President – Joint Ventures.

Bradley S. Wind has been named Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing and will report to Mr. Lencewicz. The Helm marketing group will report directly to Mr. Wind.

Francois Bernard has been named Senior Vice President – Locomotives and will report to Mr. Lencewicz.

Federico (Freddy) Fernandez has been named Vice President – Operations and will report to Mr. Lencewicz.

Jason Zimmerman has been named Vice President – Marketing and will report to Mr. Wind.

Jay Moskowitz has been named Vice President – Finance and will report to Ms. Wilson.

David Zahrobsky has been named Vice President and Chief Information Officer and will report to Ms. Wilson.

In announcing the management changes, Mr. Dains stated “Helm is proud of the depth and breadth of its management team and their many years of experience in the rail industry. I congratulate each of these individual members of our team but more importantly thank all of the forty-nine Helm associates for the pride and professionalism they bring to the performance of their jobs in representing the company to our customers, partners, vendors and capital providers.”