Caterpillar Announces Executive Office Appointments and Changes

PEORIA, Ill., Dec. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the previous announcement that Jim Umpleby will become Caterpillar's Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2017, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) announced today additional changes in its executive ranks. The company's Board of Directors has appointed current Construction Industries Group President Tom Pellette, 53, group president of Energy & Transportation, the position previously held by Umpleby. Replacing Pellette, the Board has appointed Bob De Lange, 47, group president of Construction Industries. De Lange is currently vice president of the Excavation Division. Additionally, the Board has appointed Billy Ainsworth, 60, senior vice president and strategic advisor to the Caterpillar Executive Office. In addition to his new responsibilities, Ainsworth will continue to have responsibility for Caterpillar's Rail Division. The above changes are effective January 1, 2017.  

Tom Pellette Named Group President of Energy & Transportation

"To this role, Tom brings broad and global experience serving customers in the oil and gas and power generation markets," Umpleby said. "Since joining Caterpillar's Executive Office leading Construction Industries in 2015, Tom has delivered strong results while operating in a very challenging economic climate. Tom's proven track record of effective leadership, combined with his extensive global experience serving customers, gives me great confidence as he takes on this new role," Umpleby said.   

Bob De Lange Appointed Group President of Construction Industries

"During Bob's 23-year career at Caterpillar, he has consistently demonstrated strong leadership and results across a range of marketing, product management and manufacturing positions. Bob also brings a diverse perspective to our Executive Office, having started his career with Caterpillar in his native Belgium before serving in multiple marketing and product manager roles across Europe and in the United States as he progressed to positions with increasing levels of responsibility," Umpleby said. "Most recently, as the vice president of our Excavation Division based in Singapore, Bob has improved Caterpillar's global market position in the excavator industry, including strong unit volume gains in China, the largest excavator market in the world."   

Billy Ainsworth Appointed Senior Vice President and Strategic Advisor to the Caterpillar Executive Office

"Billy joined Caterpillar 10 years ago when we acquired Progress Rail Services, the company he founded in 1983 and built from the ground up. He brings proven entrepreneurial skills and an unyielding focus on serving customers to his new role. Billy will act as an advisor to Caterpillar's Executive Office as we evaluate strategic growth opportunities," Umpleby said. "In addition to these new responsibilities, Billy will continue to have responsibility for our Rail Division, which will continue to be part of Energy & Transportation."

About Caterpillar

For 91 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2015 sales and revenues of $47.011 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates through its three product segments - Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media. 

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release relate to future events and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.

Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes, component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position; (xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security; (xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 16, 2016 for the year ended December 31, 2015.

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SOURCE Caterpillar