Caterpillar announces executive officer retirements, appointments
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Mr. Levenick joined Caterpillar as a sales and marketing development representative in 1977. After serving in various management positions in marketing, commercial management and product source planning, he became a division manager in 1989, regional manager for Cat Asia Pte. Ltd. based in Singapore in 1995 and general manager for company operations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) based in Moscow in 1998.
Prior to becoming a group president, he was based in Tokyo and served as vice president with responsibility for Caterpillar's Asia Pacific Division and chairman of Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd. (SCM), formerly a Tokyo, Japan-based joint venture between Caterpillar and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., now Caterpillar Japan Ltd.
Mr. Levenick graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry and is a Sloan Fellow with a Master of Science degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is a member of the board of directors of Entergy Corporation, New Orleans, Louisiana; W. W. Grainger, Inc., Lake Forest, Illinois; executive board member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and 2012 chairman of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Washington, D.C. He is also affiliated with the University of Illinois Foundation.
Since joining Caterpillar in 1973, Mr. Wunning has had assignments of increasing responsibility in manufacturing, quality, product support and logistics. As one of the first employees and leaders of Cat Logistics in 1987, he capitalized on Caterpillar's expertise in logistics to provide services to other companies around the world. Mr. Wunning was named vice president of Cat Logistics in 1990 and president in 1994, ushering in a period of unprecedented growth for the business.
In 1998, he was named corporate vice president with responsibility for the Logistics and Product Services Division. In 2000, he became vice president with responsibility for Cat Logistics, which combined all of the internal Caterpillar and external client logistics operations into a single unit. In 2004, the Caterpillar Board of Directors named Mr. Wunning a group president.
Mr. Wunning has a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri Rolla - now Missouri University of Science and Technology - and an Executive MBA from the University of Illinois. Wunning serves on the following boards: Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, Black & Veatch Holding Company, Kennametal Inc., American Red Cross, National Mining Association and Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Both retirements will be effective in early 2015.
Caterpillar also announced that its Board of Directors has appointed current Group President Ed Rapp as Mr. Wunning’s replacement, effective January 1, 2015.
Mr. Rapp becomes group president with responsibility for Resource Industries. Mr. Rapp has been a member of Caterpillar’s executive office since 2007, and he served as group president and CFO from mid-2010 until 2013 when he assumed his current role as group president with responsibility for Construction Industries.
He was named a Caterpillar vice president in 2000, serving as the head of the EAME Marketing Division until 2004 when he was named vice president with responsibility for the Building Construction Products Division. Mr. Rapp joined Caterpillar as a pricing analyst in 1979. Over the next several years, he held positions with increasing responsibility related to pricing, production scheduling, marketing, dealer development, manufacturing and product development.
In the 1990s, he held positions as a district manager in San Francisco, the area manager in Johannesburg, South Africa, and then held several senior positions in Geneva, Switzerland, before being named vice president with responsibility for EAME Marketing in 2000.
Mr. Rapp has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Missouri-Columbia and is a graduate of the University of Illinois Executive Development program. He is a member of the board of directors of Abbvie, FMGlobal and Junior Achievement USA. Mr. Rapp is also a member of the University of Missouri College of Business Strategic Development Board.
Tom Pellette, currently a Caterpillar vice president and president of Solar Turbines Inc., has been promoted and will replace Mr. Rapp as group president with responsibility for Construction Industries, and will be relocating from San Diego, California, to Peoria, Illinois, effective January 1, 2015.
Since joining Solar in 1993, Mr. Pellette has held a range of sales, engineering and product support positions with increasing responsibility, including significant experience in leadership positions in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Prior to joining Solar, Mr. Pellette worked for Tennessee Gas and Leybold Technologies.
In 2012, the Caterpillar Board of Directors named Mr. Pellette a Caterpillar vice president and the president of Solar Turbines. He graduated in 1985 from Rice University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Mr. Pellette will join the other members of the EO based in the company’s headquarters in Peoria, Illinois.
Rob Charter, currently vice president with responsibility for the Excavation Division, has been promoted and will replace Mr. Levenick as group president with responsibility for Customer & Dealer Support, relocating from Singapore to Peoria, Illinois, effective January 1, 2015.
Mr. Charter joined Caterpillar in 1989 as a development engineer in Melbourne. He has vast experience working closely with Caterpillar dealers, including those in Australia, Asia and Latin America. His diverse experience also includes product management, most notably his role as product manager in Tokyo, as well as service training, machine sales and service, mining product support, manufacturing, construction, quarry and forestry.
In 2005, he was appointed southern region manager in Caterpillar’s Latin America Division, a position he held until 2008. In 2008, the Caterpillar Board of Directors named Charter to vice president with responsibility for the Asia Pacific Distribution Services Division. He held this position until January 2013 when he was appointed as vice president with responsibility for the Excavation Division. ■