Caterpillar’s chief legal officer (CLO) and general counsel Suzette Long, who has been with the company for 18 years, will retire on December 31.
Derek Owens, who is at present vice president and deputy general counsel, will take on the position of senior vice president and general counsel at the start of next month. He will become CLO and general counsel on January 1, 2024 after a six-month transition period.
Long has responsibility for law, security and public policy, which includes global legal services, compliance, global trade, global security and global government and corporate affairs. She joined Caterpillar in 2004 as an attorney in the legal department and held senior corporate attorney positions before becoming associate general counsel in 2011. In 2013, she became deputy general counsel for the company’s legal services division.
In 2015 she became deputy general counsel, leading legal support for Caterpillar’s energy and transportation business. She took on her current role and became corporate secretary in August 2017. Before joining Caterpillar, Long was an attorney with Gallagher & Kennedy in Phoenix, Arizona.
In December 2020, Nikki Puza became corporate secretary.
Owens joined Caterpillar in 2019 as associate general counsel for litigation and investigations having previously spent 15 years with the US Attorney’s Office of the US Department of Justice, where he was most recently a deputy chief.
During his time at Caterpillar, he has led teams in various practice areas in the legal department. He is responsible for overseeing and providing legal guidance for commercial and transactional matters for the company’s services, distribution and digital, in addition to company-wide internal investigations, tax and litigation matters.
Caterpillar chair and CEO Jim Umpleby says in a statement: ‘Suzette has been a trusted adviser, strategic business partner and invaluable colleague to our executive office. She strengthened the legal function while supporting the execution of our strategy for profitable growth and helped lead Caterpillar through complex matters while reinforcing our commitment to help our customers build a better, more sustainable world… I thank Suzette for her dedicated service.
‘We are fortunate to have a deep bench of talent… Derek brings a unique set of skills that will benefit our law, security and public policy team and the entire enterprise. On behalf of our leadership team and the board of directors, I wish Suzette all the best in her retirement and congratulate Derek on his new role.’
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
