Rich Lavin is group president of Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Ill. He has administrative responsibility for the Construction Industries & Growth Markets, which includes the Earthmoving, Excavation and Building Construction Products Divisions, Caterpillar Japan Ltd. (CJL), Europe / South America Integrated Manufacturing Operations, Caterpillar China Division, large contractor industry and India/ASEAN.

Lavin joined Caterpillar in 1984 as an attorney in what is now the Legal Services Division; served in numerous positions in the company's Asian and Latin American operations and was a product manager in Track-Type Tractors. He was director of Corporate Labor and Human Relations and director of Compensation and Benefits. Lavin was also vice president of Caterpillar's Human Services Division. Before becoming a group president, he was most recently vice president of manufacturing operations for the Asia Pacific Division, serving as chairman of Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi Ltd. (SCM) - now Caterpillar Japan Ltd. (CJL) - and chairman of Caterpillar (China) Investment Co., Ltd. Lavin had administrative responsibility for manufacturing operations in the region, including facilities in China, India and Indonesia and for deploying the company's emerging markets strategy.

Lavin has a bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University and law degrees from Creighton University and Georgetown University. He also completed a Brookings Institute management program and a Carnegie Mellon executive development program.

In November 2009, he was appointed to the board of directors of USG Corporation, a leading building products company.  He is also a member of the board of directors of the U.S. China Business Council, U.S. India Business Council and the U.S. Korea Business Council. He is a member of The Conference Board and the Chicago Council of Global Affairs.  He serves on the International Advisory Council of Guanghua School of Management at Peking University and is on the Board of Trustees at Bradley University.