Caterpillar Names General Counsel, Corporate Secretary

PEORIA, Ill., Aug. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced its board of directors has appointed Suzette M. Long as the company's general counsel and corporate secretary. Long has provided interim leadership to Caterpillar's Law and Public Policy group since mid-February. The group she will lead includes Caterpillar's Legal Services Division and Global Government & Corporate Affairs Division. Long will also be Caterpillar's corporate secretary.

"Since she assumed the interim role in February, Suzette has demonstrated outstanding leadership while also establishing herself as a trusted advisor and counselor to myself and other senior executives. She is an excellent addition to Caterpillar's Executive Office," said Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby.

Long brings nearly 18 years of legal experience to the position, including nearly 12 years of leadership in various Caterpillar legal roles. In her role as general counsel and corporate secretary, Long will be a member of Caterpillar's Executive Office and will report directly to Umpleby. She will assume her new role effective immediately.

Long first joined Caterpillar in 2004 as an attorney in the legal department. She has served in a number of senior corporate attorney positions and was named associate general counsel in 2011. In 2013, Long assumed the position of deputy general counsel for the Legal Services Division, and in that role lead the environmental health and safety, product regulatory and investigations groups. In 2015, Long assumed the position of deputy general counsel leading the legal support for Caterpillar's Energy & Transportation segment. Prior to joining Caterpillar, she was an attorney with the law firm of Gallagher & Kennedy in Phoenix, Ariz.

Long has bachelor's and law degrees from Arizona State University and a master's degree from the University of Arizona. She has also completed Caterpillar's Executive Leadership Program through Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

About Caterpillar
For more than 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2016 sales and revenues of $38.537 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates through its three product segments - Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media.

Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release relate to future events and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance and speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.

Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) commodity price changes, material price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of material; (iii) government monetary or fiscal policies; (iv) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (v) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (vi) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (vii) information technology security threats and computer crime; (viii) additional restructuring costs or a failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost reduction actions; (ix) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash flow and to reduce costs; (x) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xii) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xiii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; (xiv) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (xv) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (xvi) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (xvii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (xviii) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (xix) currency fluctuations; (xx) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial and other restrictive covenants in debt agreements; (xxi) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxii) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xxiii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position; (xxiv) additional tax expense or exposure; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xxvii) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; and (xxviii) other factors described in more detail in Caterpillar's Forms 10-Q, 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.