Caterpillar Announces Officer Retirement; Appoints New Vice President

PEORIA, Ill., Dec. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. CAT today announced the retirement of Vice President Jim Johnson and the appointment of a new vice president, Raymond Chan, who will replace Johnson.

Jim Johnson Retirement

After more than 37 years with Caterpillar, Jim Johnson, vice president with responsibility for the Asia Pacific Distribution Services Division (APDSD), has elected to retire, effective February 1, 2015.

"I want to recognize Jim for his loyalty and contributions over the nearly four decades of his career at Caterpillar," said Rob Charter, who will become Caterpillar group president with responsibility for the Customer and Dealer Support on January 1, 2015. "His deep expertise in the areas of product support, rental, marketing, parts support and dealer interface and his reputation for customer focus have served the company well, and I wish him and his family all of the best as Jim moves into this next phase of his life."

Johnson joined Caterpillar in 1977 as part of the engineering training program in East Peoria, Illinois. Over the next several years, Johnson held a series of service and sales positions with increasing responsibilities and then advanced through marketing and product positions in the U.S., UK and Japan before becoming the managing director of sales and marketing for Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi in 2004. He then led the Global Rental and Used Equipment team, Caterpillar Used Equipment Services, Inc. and the Lifecycle Products and Services department before being named a vice president in 2012. Johnson holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Washington University and completed Caterpillar's Executive Leadership Program, Digging Deep.

Raymond Chan Appointed Vice President

Caterpillar's Board of Directors has appointed Raymond Chan as vice president with responsibility for the Asia Pacific Distribution Services Division (APDSD), replacing Johnson. Chan is currently a member of the APDSD leadership team, serving as regional manager based in Beijing.

"As Caterpillar has invested and grown our business in China over the last decade, Raymond has played a critical leadership role supporting our dealers in China, positioning Caterpillar and its China-based dealers for long term success," Charter said. "His knowledge and experience of both dealer and Caterpillar customer issues and opportunities in-region combined with his more than two decades of internal and external expertise in engines provide a diverse and strong foundation for this role."

Chan joined Caterpillar in 1986 after working in the energy industry in Hong Kong, China, France and Malaysia. His first nine years at Caterpillar were spent working in the engine business at Cat China Ltd. in Hong Kong. In 2005, Chan became the China distribution manager within APDSD, based in Beijing. Since 2008, he has had the expanded responsibility of regional manager with APDSD, remaining in Beijing. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and manufacturing from the University of Hong Kong. Chan will assume his new position effective January 1, 2015, and will relocate to Singapore to better serve the entire Asia Pacific market.

About Caterpillar:

For nearly 90 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 2013 sales and revenues of $55.656 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 - Resource Industries, Construction 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 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 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 regulation; (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 investigations; (xxvi) compliance requirements imposed if additional carbon emissions legislation and/or regulations are adopted; (xxvii) changes in accounting standards; (xxviii) failure or breach of IT security; (xxix) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; and (xxx) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 18, 2014, for the year ended December 31, 2013, and in our Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 1, 2014, for the quarter ended June 30, 2014.

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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.