Caterpillar Tabs New Group President and Executive Shifts

Following the announcement that Group President Rob Charter has elected to retire, Caterpillar Inc. announced changes in responsibilities for two group presidents and the appointment of a new group president.

Michael Roth

April 18, 2018

2 min read

Caterpillar39s Construction Industries Group president Bob De Lange will take over for Rob Charter heading the Customer amp Dealer Support Group — Caterpillar's Construction Industries Group president Bob De Lange will take over for Rob Charter heading the Customer & Dealer Support Group.

Caterpillar Group President Bob De Lange, current Construction Industries group president, will oversee Customer & Dealer Support, replacing Charter.

“During his 25-year career with Caterpillar, Bob has delivered excellent results in leadership positions across Europe, the United States and Asia,” said Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby. “Throughout his career, Bob has built strong relationships with our dealers while holding a range of product and marketing positions. His diverse experience working with our dealer network makes him ideally suited to lead the Customer & Dealer Support group for Caterpillar.”

Caterpillar Group President Tom Pellette, current Energy & Transportation group president, will now lead Construction Industries, replacing De Lange.

“Tom delivered strong results during a challenging time for the industry when previously leading our Construction Industries organization, and with Bob De Lange’s move, Tom is best positioned to resume the leadership role for Construction Industries,” Umpleby said.

Caterpillar’s board of directors has appointed Ramin Younessi a Caterpillar group president. Younessi will lead Caterpillar's Energy & Transportation group, replacing Pellette. Younessi is currently vice president of Caterpillar’s Industrial Power Systems Division.

“Ramin’s extensive leadership experience prior to joining Caterpillar, combined with his outstanding leadership of IPSD for the last five years, make him a valuable addition to the Executive Office,” Umpleby said.

Younessi joined Caterpillar in 2013, bringing more than 25 years of outside senior leadership experience. Previous executive responsibility included product development, quality, purchasing and product planning with Navistar, as well as product development and planning for Daimler AG’s commercial vehicle division. Younessi has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and master’s degrees from Syracuse University and the University of Maryland.

Younessi's replacement will be named soon.

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.