Caterpillar Announces Retirement of Shaheen, Management Changes

Caterpillar Inc. last week announced that group president Gerry Shaheen elected to retire effective Feb. 1, 2008. The company also announced that its board of directors appointed Rich Lavin and Ed Rapp as group presidents, joining the company’s executive office. Lavin and Rapp’s appointments will be effective Dec. 1.

“Gerry's leadership has been exceptional, and on behalf of everyone at Team Caterpillar, I want to thank him for more than 40 years of distinguished service with the company and within our industry,” said Caterpillar chairman and CEO Jim Owens.

Since 2001, Lavin has been a Caterpillar vice president, serving as Human Services Division vice president until 2004 when he was named vice president with responsibility for Caterpillar's Asia Pacific Manufacturing Operations.

Lavin joined Caterpillar in 1984 as an attorney in what is now the Legal Services Division.

Since 2000, Rapp has been a Caterpillar vice president, serving as the head of the Europe-Africa-Middle East Marketing Division until 2004 when he was named vice president with responsibility for the Building Construction Products Division.

Rapp joined Caterpillar as a pricing analyst in 1979.

Reflecting Caterpillar's global business growth and continued expansion of its service businesses, Caterpillar announced a realignment of its executive office. There will now be six group presidents reporting directly to Owens.

“Since 2002, we have more than doubled the size of our company,” said Owens. “The addition of a group president aligns well with our enterprise strategy which calls for continued growth in key emerging markets and greater opportunities for the expansion of Caterpillar's service businesses.”

Caterpillar also last week announced several changes at the vice president level. Caterpillar vice president Bill Mayo will retire effective Feb. 1, 2008. Mayo has had responsibility for the North American Commercial Division since 2006. He joined Caterpillar in 1979 as a service trainee, and worked in the service and product support areas for much of his career.

Jim Parker will replace Mayo as vice president for NACD. Parker is currently a vice president with administrative responsibility for Caterpillar's Power Systems & OEM Solutions Division. Parker's move will be effective Dec. 1.

Mary Bell will replace Ed Rapp as vice president with responsibility for the Building Construction Products Division. Bell is currently vice president of the Logistics Division at Caterpillar. Bell's move will be effective Dec. 1.

Bell joined Caterpillar in 1981. She formerly served as global manager of Caterpillar Distribution Services, a division of Caterpillar Logistics Services.

Caterpillar's board of directors appointed Steve Larson to replace Mary Bell as a vice president with responsibility for the Logistics Division. Larson currently is part of the Logistics Division's senior leadership team as the head of Cat Logistics Americas region. Larson's move will be effective Dec. 1.

Larson joined Caterpillar in 1979 and held a series of positions with growing responsibilities in the areas of accounting, finance and marketing.

Tom Bluth was named vice president with responsibility for Caterpillar's Asia Pacific Manufacturing Operations. Bluth will replace Rich Lavin. Bluth is currently managing director, Caterpillar France, part of Caterpillar's Europe-Africa-Middle East operations organization. Bluth's appointment will be effective on Dec. 1.

Richard Case, currently marketing manager for the North American Commercial Division, was appointed vice president with responsibility for the newly formed Marine and Petroleum Power Division.

As part of this reorganization, Caterpillar's On-Highway Engine Marketing Division, which now reports to Jim Parker, will move to Gary Stroup, Caterpillar vice president with responsibility for the Large Power Systems Division. This move will bring all on-highway truck manufacturing operations and sales and marketing efforts into a single division.