Don served as chairman and CEO of Caterpillar Inc. from June 1990 until his retirement in February 1999, leading Caterpillar to sales and revenue increases
of 83% during this period. His leadership capped over 42 years at Caterpillar, which included 16 overseas management positions, including area manager of Southern Africa; area manager of Central Europe; marketing director of Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd. in Tokyo; and president of Caterpillar Brasil S.A. in San Paulo, Brazil.

Don holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Valparaiso University and a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,  where he was a Sloan Fellow. He has been awarded several honorary degrees: in  1994 from Bradley University; in May 1998 from Valparaiso University; in May 2002  from Wabash College; and in May 2003 from Purdue University. In 1998, Phi Kappa Psi awarded him with a National Leadership Award for his exceptional accomplishments  in corporate leadership.

Don is an active volunteer and serves as a member of the Board of Advisors of Thayer Capital Partners, a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, director of Valparaiso University and as a lifetime trustee of Knox College. A leading proponent of free trade, he is a past chairman of the Business Roundtable, the US-Japan Business Council, the National Foreign Trade Council and the Equipment  Manufacturers’ Institute; a member of the Illinois Economic Development Board; a director of the National Association of Manufacturers; a member of the Business Council and a former member of the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, serving under Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.