John Deere

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Campaign to Fix the Debt
Company Profile
Company Name Deere & Co
CEO Name Samuel Allen
CEO Compensation $18,802,364
CEO Retirement Assets $11,742,531
Underfunded Company Pension -$1,373,000,000
Annual Company Revenue $32,012,500,000
Territorial Tax Break $908,950,000
Federal Lobbying/Political Donations ('09-'12*) $6,189,000
Click here for sources.
2011 data unless otherwise noted.
©2013 Center for Media and Democracy

John Deere is a company that consists of three major business segments: agriculture and turf, construction and forestry, and credit. John Deere manufactures farm equipment, lawn and garden tractors, mowers, golf course equipment, and other outdoor power products. The company also manufactures forestry and construction equipment. It is also one of the largest equipment finance companies in the U.S., offering credit to help consumers buy their products.[1] The company was founded in 1837 by John Deere, a blacksmith and inventor.[2]

In 2011, John Deere reported $32,012,500,000 in sales and revenues.[3]

Violation Tracker
Discover Which Corporations are the Biggest Violators of Environmental, Health and Safety Laws in the United States
Violation Tracker is the first national search engine on corporate misconduct covering environmental, health, and safety cases initiated by 13 federal regulatory agencies. Violation Tracker is produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First. Click here to access Violation Tracker.

Ties to Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt"

The Campaign to Fix the Debt is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem."

This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." Please visit our main SourceWatch page on Fix the Debt.

About Fix the Debt
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem." Through a special report and new interactive wiki resource, the Center for Media and Democracy -- in partnership with the Nation magazine -- exposes the funding, the leaders, the partner groups, and the phony state "chapters" of this astroturf supergroup. Learn more at PetersonPyramid.org and in the Nation magazine.


Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

For an unknown period through mid-2012, John Deere & Company was a corporate member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It was a member in around 2000,[4] and in 2011, it was a member of ALEC's Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force.[5][6]

In July 2012, a John Deere representative announced that it is leaving ALEC.[7] Please see Corporations Which Have Cut Ties to ALEC for more.

A list of other ALEC corporations can be found here.

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

Personnel

Board of Directors

As of January 2013[8]

  • Samuel R. Allen - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Deere & Company
  • Crandall C. Bowles - Chairman, Springs Industries, Inc., Chairman, The Springs Company
  • Vance D. Coffman - Retired Chairman, Lockheed Martin Corporation
  • Charles O. Holliday, Jr. - Chairman, DuPont
  • Dipak C. Jain - Dean, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
  • Clayton M. Jones - Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rockwell Collins, Inc.
  • Joachim Milberg - Chairman, Supervisory Board, Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG
  • Richard B. Myers - Retired Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Retired General, United States Air Force
  • Thomas H. Patrick - Chairman, New Vernon Capital, LLC
  • Aulana L. Peters - Retired Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
  • Sherry M. Smith - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, SUPERVALU INC.

Former directors include [9]

  • David B. Speer - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Executives

As of January 2013[10]

  • Samuel R. Allen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
  • Max A. Guinn - Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Communications, Public Affairs - and Labor Relations
  • James R. Jenkins - Senior Vice President
  • Mary K. W. Jones - Senior Vice President and General Counsel
  • Rajesh Kalathur - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
  • James H. Becht - Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, International
  • Frances B. Emerson - Vice President, Corporate Communications and Global Brand Management
  • Timothy V. Haight - Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
  • Michael A. Harring - Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, North America
  • Marc A. Howze - Vice President, Global Human Resources
  • Thomas K. Jarrett - Vice President, Taxes
  • Jenny R. Kimball -Vice President and Treasurer
  • David C. Larson - Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Business Development
  • Bradley D. Morris - Vice President, Global Labor Relations
  • Luann K. Rickert - Vice President, Internal Audit
  • Laurie S. Simpson - Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer
  • Thomas C. Spitzfaden - Vice President, Pension Fund & Investments
  • Charles R. Stamp, Jr. - Vice President,Public Affairs Worldwide
  • James E. Temperley - Vice President and Comptroller
  • Patrick W. Webber - Vice President, Information Technology
  • Marie Z. Ziegler - Deputy Financial Officer
  • Gregory R. Noe - Corporate Secretary and Associate General Counsel

Contact details

Deere & Company World Headquarters
One John Deere Place
Moline, Illinois 61265
URL: http://www.deere.com

Resources and articles

Featured SourceWatch Articles on Fix the Debt

Sourcewatch resources

References

  1. John Deere Company Info, accessed March 12, 2011
  2. John Deere, "History", organizational website, accessed January 2013
  3. Deere & Co., "2011 Annual Report", organizational document, page 23.
  4. Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research, project of the Environmental Working Group, Information on American Legislative Exchange Council, archived organizational profile, archived by Wayback Machine December 2, 2000, accessed August 19, 2011
  5. American Legislative Exchange Council, Commerce, Insurance & Economic Development Task Force Meeting Agenda, August 3, 2011, on file with CMD
  6. American Legislative Exchange Council, "American Legislative Exchange Council Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force 2011 Spring Task Force Summit April 29, 2011 Attendees", organizational document, June 20, 2011, p. 8, obtained and released by Common Cause April 2012
  7. ColorOfChange.org, Five more major companies will no longer fund ALEC: John Deere, CVS Caremark, MillerCoors, HP, and Best Buy will no longer fund American Legislative Exchange Council, organizational press release, July 10, 2012
  8. John Deere, Board of Director Biographies, organizational website, accessed January 2013
  9. Directors, John Deere, accessed June 7, 2010.
  10. John Deere, "Executive Biographies", organizational website, accessed January 2013