Page 464 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

district manager overseeing Peterson’s transition process. “It’s all about the continuity of ownership over multiple generations. Peterson is very fortu- nate to have two family members whose skill sets complement each other. Erin is the financial strat- egist. Duane Jr. excels in product and operations. Duane will talk to customers all day long. He knows the product inside out and he understands applications. Erin excels in dealing with bankers and managing lines of credit. She handles all that expertly. We look at them as a team,” says Miller. “Caterpillar has very high confidence in the two of them running the Peterson organization over the next three decades. They are a one-plus-one- equals-three scenario.”
The development of that team was something of a surprise. Caterpillar had been watching Duane Jr. for years. It was obvious he was being groomed to be the next CEO. But Erin was another story. “Erin has proven to be a very high performer. She was just in the shadows. But as she started to be groomed by Mark [MacGuidwin] for the CFO position, she started to get more exposure. And the response was, ‘Wow! Where did Erin come from? She really knows her stuff.’ Erin has a lot of influ- ence and she gets things done. She just came out of nowhere. That was the perception of several people at Cat. Today, Erin has a fantastic reputation with- in Caterpillar. They both do.”
TEAM AT THE TOP
For a Cat dealer, a family leadership team at the top is an anomaly—not unheard of but certainly not the norm. “Duane Jr. and Erin are not the first sibling duo, but Caterpillar views them as a very complementary team,” says Goggin. “They have a mutual respect and love for each other. The way they complement each other is something Cat sees as a strength.”
While there can only be one dealer principal, Cat- erpillar is very pleased with Duane and Erin as
a team. They like the synergy, the trust, and the collaboration. “Cat dealers are becoming very large businesses so I’m really fortunate to have Erin,” says Duane Jr. “We get along well. It’s a package deal. Caterpillar loves that Erin is in the business. She could easily step in and take over if anything ever happened to me. They’ve already acknowl- edged that. And they’ve told both of us, and my dad, that our situation is about as good as it gets.”
“There’s a common glue that ties these two togeth- er and that’s their values and culture,” says Rapp. “I used to see them compete like mad when we were playing sports but I never once, in my pro- fessional career, saw any jockeying between them to try to take advantage over the other. They have a love as brother and sister, but they also have a mutual respect for who they are as leaders. It takes special circumstances to have two individuals that complement each other versus compete with each other. And an understanding that it’s not about the individual; it’s about the enterprise. That’s unique. And it goes back to the way they were raised.”
Top to bottom: Peterson’s Next Gen leaders Erin & Duane Jr in 1987; Erin & Duane Jr. in 2020
462 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG