Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56529
The academic community seems to be selective about its political engagement. I was embarrassed that economists from academia didn't speak up during the 2008 Democratic campaign, which was hugely anti-trade. Owens' passion for free trade has only been building dur- ing his 37-year career at Caterpillar. Three years after joining the company as an economist in 1972, he moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to become the chief economist for Caterpillar Overseas S.A. He returned to Peoria in 1980, but then went to Indonesia in 1987 to work for P.T. Natra Raya, a Cater- pillar joint venture. Between 1990 and 2003, he served first as president of Solar Turbines Incorporated, a San Diego- based subsidiary, and next as chief financial officer and group president in Peoria, before being named Caterpillar's CEO in 2004. Owens also directs the Council on Competitiveness and serves as co-chair of its Energy Security, Innovation & Sus- tainability Initiative. The Council, says Owens, is develop- ing a comprehensive energy security roadmap to identify how business and government can drive demand for sus- tainable energy solutions. Owens, who has a BS in textile engineering and a PhD in economics from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, also is a passionate supporter of business education. In 2008, Owens and the Caterpillar Foundation pledged $2.2 million to NCSU, supporting the "Owens Distinguished Professor- ship of Supply Chain Management" and the "James W. Owens Graduate Economics Fund" for doctoral economics students. In April, NCSU's College of Management named Owens its "2009 Person of the Year" for his contributions to business. As leader of one of the largest exporters in the U.S., Owens knows that he's a natural choice to speak out against protectionist economic policies. But he hopes that academ- ics will help him send a clear message to the world's poli- ticians: Free trade, not protectionism, is the way to keep business booming. When you hire new talent at Caterpillar, what skill sets do you value most? Engineering—mechanical, electrical, industrial, and man- ufacturing—is a big portal of entry. So are finance and accounting. In our research center, we hire people with mas- ter's and doctorate degrees, primarily in math, science, and engineering. We hire a sprinkling of MBAs, but we normally hire more people with undergraduate degrees. Why so few MBAs? We don't recruit at the top MBA programs in the country, partly because we haven't been very successful with that. Those students primarily are moving toward consulting, investment banking, venture capital, and other similar sec- tors, so they've been less inclined to come to a large tradi- 22 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 tional manufacturer. We can't compete to hire that talent straight out of school. Many of our employees pursue MBAs on nights and weekends after they come to work for us. In addition, many of our MBAs are mid-career hires who come in at senior and mid-management levels, with a lot of relevant experi- ence in our industry. You have degrees in both engineering and economics. How did your study of economics influence your perspective? I used a lot of applied economics in my early jobs at Caterpil- lar. First, I was an econometrician, doing statistical model- ing and forecasting of product sales. I did macroeconomic analyses, relating them to our sales forecasts. I did pricing studies and sourcing studies, which used basic economics. I wrote papers on exchange rates and global competitiveness and productivity trends. This work gave me a lot of global experience, and I was able to help our senior leaders think about megatrends that were important to our business. LOUIE PSIHOYOS/SCIENCE FACTION/CORBIS