Videos from the Summit
Summit Partners and Sponsors
2009 Event Speakers
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James W. Owens
Co-Chair, Energy Security, Innovation & Sustainability Initiative, Council on Competitiveness; Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar Inc.Jim Owens is chairman and chief executive officer of Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Ill. After joining the company in 1972 as a corporate economist, he has held numerous management positions.
Owens was named chief economist of Caterpillar Overseas S.A. in Geneva, Switzerland in 1975. From 1980 until 1987 he held managerial positions in Peoria in the Accounting and Product Source Planning Departments. In 1987 he became managing director of P.T. Natra Raya, Caterpillar's joint venture in Indonesia. He held that position until 1990, when he was elected a corporate vice president and named president of Solar Turbines Incorporated, a Caterpillar subsidiary in San Diego, Calif. In 1993, he came to Peoria as vice president and chief financial officer with administrative responsibility for the Corporate Services Division.
In 1995, Owens was named a group president and member of Caterpillar’s Executive Office. Over the next eight years as a group president, Owens was at various times responsible for 13 of the company’s 25 divisions. In December 2003, the Caterpillar Board of Directors named Owens vice chairman and appointed him chairman and chief executive officer effective February 1, 2004.
Owens, a native of Elizabeth City, N.C., graduated from North Carolina State University in 1973 with a Ph.D. in economics.
He is a director of Alcoa Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pa. and IBM Corporation in Armonk, N.Y. Owens is a director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics; a director of the Council on Foreign Relations; and a member of the Global Advisory Council to The Conference Board in New York. He is chairman of the International Trade and Investment Task Force of the Business Roundtable; chairman of the Business Council; and a member of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board in Washington, D.C.
Videos from the summit: Part 1: Chad Holliday and Jim Owens on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Part 2: Chad Holliday and Jim Owens on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Drive Private Sector Demand for Sustainable Energy Solutions Morning Roundtable, Caterpillar’s Policies Integrate Earth- and Business-Friendly Policies
