Deere & Co. announced on May 31, a pair of changes in its top leadership that reflect, in part, the company’s continued commitment to sustainability, including alternative power solutions.
Ryan Campbell, formerly Deere’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, was elected by the global equipment giant’s board of directors as president of Worldwide Construction & Forestry and Power Systems. Effective today, he will lead the company’s charge toward sustainability.
Mr. Ryan replaces John Stone, who has elected to leave the company, Deere said in a news release.
The company also announced the board’s election of Raj Kalathur as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO).
As the leader of the Construction & Forestry team, Mr. Campbell’s responsibilities include increasing the adoption of precision technology in earthmoving, forestry and roadbuilding applications, Deere said. He also will work to deliver a broad range of electric and hybrid-electric product models, all with a goal to boost economic value and sustainability for customers.
In addition, Mr. Campbell will lead the company’s commitment to deliver viable low- or no-carbon alternative power solutions via Deere’s Power Systems group.
Throughout his tenure, Mr. Campbell has spearheaded initiatives focused on enhancing Deere’s profitability and strategic positioning and developing future leaders, the company said. He also has been “an unrelenting advocate for driving higher levels of commitment to economic and environmental sustainability through Deere’s digitalization journey.”
John C. May, chairman and CEO, said in a statement, “Ryan’s record of success and proven leadership skills make him highly qualified to ensure we will make continued progress executing our smart industrial strategy and in serving our construction, forestry and power systems customers at the highest level.”
As the company’s new CFO, Mr. Kalathur will retain his present duties for John Deere Financial and have continued oversight for information technology. His areas of responsibility as CFO include accounting and reporting, treasury, taxes, internal audit, strategy and business development, sustainability, and investor relations, the news release said.
Mr. Kalathur is currently the president of John Deere Financial and its chief information officer (CIO). He led the team responsible for ensuring that John Deere equipment customers throughout the world have ready access to competitive financing. Under his leadership, the John Deere Financial loan portfolio has grown to over $50 billion.
As CIO, Deere said, Mr. Kalathur also helped lead the company’s digitalization journey. His CIO responsibilities will now be led by Ganesh Jayaram who was appointed CIO effective May 31.
“The leadership changes announced today reflect the depth of talent on our senior management team and ensure we will make continued progress executing our smart industrial strategy,” Mr. May said.
