MoreDeere & Company announced that Samuel R. Allen will become president, Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division, succeeding Pierre E. Leroy.
Deere & Company said Leroy elected to retire after 29 years of service, including 20 years as an officer of the company. For the past nine years, Leroy has served as President, Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division.
Earlier this year, Leroy was selected as one of the "Seventy-five Most Powerful Blacks in Corporate America" by Black Enterprise magazine. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Fortune Brands.
Leroy earned a bachelor of arts from the University of Michigan in 1970 and a master of business administration from the University of Chicago in 1972. He served Deere & Company in various management assignments of increasing responsibility, eventually being named treasurer in 1985, vice president and treasurer in 1987 and senior vice president and chief financial officer in 1994.
Allen joined Deere in 1975 and has also held a variety of management positions of increasing responsibility. Most recently, Allen served as president, Global Financial Services, John Deere Power Systems and Corporate Human Resources. In addition to his new role of leading the company's construction and forestry division, Allen will continue to have responsibility for John Deere Power Systems and Corporate Human Resources.
Allen has worked in management positions at several John Deere factories and also has led John Deere operations in Latin America, Australia and Asia. He is a 1975 graduate of Purdue University with a bachelor of science degree in industrial management.
Source: John Deere, Feb. 24, 2005
