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PEORIA, Ill., July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Frank Crespo as a Vice President of the company. He will serve as Caterpillar's Chief Procurement Officer with responsibility for the Global Purchasing Division. He will join the company on August 16, 2010, and will report to Group President Steve Wunning, who has responsibility for Resource Industries.

Crespo is currently Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for Honeywell International, a $31 billion company located in Morristown, New Jersey.

Crespo graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., with an engineering degree and earned his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

"We are fortunate to bring Frank on board with Caterpillar, and I know he will build on his proven track record of leadership, supply chain management and low cost country sourcing that will bring Caterpillar's supply chain performance to the next level," commented Group President Steve Wunning. "He brings an extensive record of driving successful supplier collaboration, which is one of the nine key operating principles embedded in Caterpillar's enterprise strategy," added Wunning.

Prior to joining Honeywell, Crespo was the Director of Global Category Management at Electronic Data Systems in Plano, Texas, where he was responsible for creating a global commodity management structure across each business unit.

Before joining Electronic Data Systems, Crespo was the Vice President of Semiconductor Materials for Praxair, Inc. Prior to this role, he was the Vice President of Global Procurement and Materials Management for Praxair, Inc. Crespo also served in senior procurement roles for Texas Instruments, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Company.

Following his graduation from the Naval Academy, Crespo served as a Nuclear Submarine Officer in both Vallejo, Calif., and Norfolk, Va., as the Department Head for Supply, where he managed a large inventory and logistics budget for the Navy. He concluded his active duty career as a Defense Contract Specialist for the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, District of Columbia. Crespo went on to serve an additional 18 years in the Naval Reserve and retired as a Captain.

About Caterpillar:

For more than 85 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making progress possible and driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. With 2009 sales and revenues of $32.396 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. The company also is a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services, Caterpillar Logistics Services and Progress Rail Services. More information is available at: http://www.cat.com.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.