D. James Umpleby III is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Caterpillar, Inc.
He joined Solar Turbines, now a Caterpillar subsidiary, in 1980 as an associate engineer. During his career at Caterpillar, He has held a variety of positions in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, sales and services. He became president of Solar Turbines and a Caterpillar vice president in 2010; from 2013 to 2016 he led Caterpillar’s Energy & Transportation business segment as group president. He has served as CEO since January 1, 2017 and was elected chairman of the board of directors on December 12, 2018.
As chairman and CEO, He is leading the company’s execution of a new enterprise strategy to achieve profitable growth. The strategy is based on operational excellence and making Caterpillar’s customers more successful by providing expanded offerings of products and services.
He graduated from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He has completed an executive leadership program at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. He serves on Rose-Hulman’s board of trustees, on the board of directors of the Chevron Corporation, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and the US-China Business Council. He is also a member of the Latin America Conservation Council and the Business Roundtable.