CIT CIO Is Named President of Technology Division.

Business Editors

LIVINGSTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2000

CIT Equipment Financing, a unit of The CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE:CIT; TSE:CIT.U), and one of the largest equipment financing companies in the U.S., has named John J. Fischer, Jr. President of Technology Financing, a $5 billion unit headquartered in Livingston, NJ.

"We are taking all of the technology financing businesses and consolidating them under John," said Robert J. Merritt, Group CEO of CIT Equipment Financing. "For the past 25 years, John's career has focused on evaluating, selecting, purchasing and installing a broad range of software and computer equipment. He is intimately familiar with technology and understands both the business needs for this equipment and the financial decisions that drive the acquisition of this equipment. He is the ideal candidate to manage the integration of these businesses and drive them to greater levels of success."

For the past eight years, Fischer, 48, served as CIT's Chief Information Office and Executive Vice President. In that position, he was responsible for all of CIT's information technology initiatives, including implementing corporate-wide networks, revamping all major application suites, systems implementation and upgrading the technology support team.

In 1999, for the second consecutive year, Fischer and his IT team helped CIT achieve recognition by Information Week as the No. 1 technology innovator in the financial services industry worldwide. Fischer was also selected as one of the "Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2000" by ComputerWorld.

Prior to joining CIT, Fischer was CIO of the New York Stock Exchange where he was responsible for upgrading the exchange's capacity to handle the two billion share day. He was also Manager of Application Systems at Smith Barney.

Fischer earned a B.S. from Fordham University, an MBA in Business and Systems from Boston University and is a graduate of The Wharton School Advanced Management Program. An active member of the community, Fischer is Chairman of the Advisory Board of New Jersey Institute of Technology's College of Science and Liberal Arts. He is also on the Atlantic Health System's Information Systems Board Advisory Committee, the Board of Advisors for the Eric Johnson House, a home for indigent HIV patients, The Conference Board's Information Management Council and a member of Cancer Care of New Jersey.

He lives with his wife Arlene in Mendham, NJ with their two children Alexandra and Johnny.

CIT Equipment Financing offers companies a wide variety of financial solutions including equipment leasing and financing and small business lending. It is an operating group of The CIT Group (NYSE:CIT, TSE: CIT.U). With $53 billion in managed assets, The CIT Group (www.cit.com) is one of the world's largest commercial and consumer finance organizations.