Caterpillar’s Mining Division Chief Curfman to Retire
Chris Curfman, Caterpillar vice president with responsibility for the Mining Sales & Support Division, will retire at the end of the year. Curfman’s retirement comes as Caterpillar announced it is eliminating 10,000 jobs over the next three year primarily because of weakness in the mining sector. Nonetheless, Curfman was highly praised for a customer-focused legacy at the manufacturing giant, for strengthening its mining business as well as for laying the foundation for Caterpillar’s entry into rental services.
Curfman’s retirement will be effective Dec. 31.
“Chris leaves a lasting, customer-focused legacy at Caterpillar that is unrivaled and likely to be unmatched,” said Ed Rapp, Caterpillar group president with responsibility for Resource Industries. “Chris built incredibly close customer relationships and has been critical to our success in the mining industry. Under Chris’ leadership we have established a global leadership position.”
Rapp added that Curfman “laid the foundation for our entry into rental services and integrated our sales and marketing organization during his time in Asia. With his retirement from Caterpillar, it will mark the end of a remarkable run of more than 60 years of values-based Curfman leadership at the company, as Chris’ father was a long-time and well-respected leader with Caterpillar until his retirement in 2990 after more than 40 years with the company.”
After having worked as a Caterpillar equipment operator and as a sales coordinator for Wallace Machinery, Curfman worked for Deere & Co. for 15 years. He joined Caterpillar in 1994, as rental and used equipment manager for North America. He later was managing director of Caterpillar of Australia and managing director of marketing for Caterpillar’s Asia Pacific division before becoming vice president of the Global Mining Division in 2004.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.