Raj Kalathur is Chief Financial Officer of Deere & Company and President, John Deere Financial, a position he assumed in 2022. In this role, Kalathur has responsibility for John Deere’s finance functions, including accounting and reporting, treasury, taxes, internal audit, compliance, sustainability, strategy and business development, and investor relations. He also is responsible for John Deere Financial, a leading financial-services provider, for dealers and customers around the world in support of sales of John Deere equipment. He also oversees the company’s information technology function, positioning it as a driver of business performance and strategic competitive advantage.
Kalathur has more than 26 years of wide-ranging operations, sales and marketing, and financial experience. Prior to assuming his current role, he was President, John Deere Financial and Chief Information Officer (CIO), where he led the team responsible for ensuring that John Deere equipment customers throughout the world have ready access to competitive financing. Under Kalathur’s leadership, the John Deere Financial loan portfolio has grown to about $50 billion and net income reached $881 million in 2021. As CIO, he successfully spearheaded the company’s digitalization journey. In this role, he led the enterprise through a a period of digital transformation and implementation of the IT agile operating model.
Throughout his career, Kalathur has led strategic initiatives focused on improving Deere operations, enhancing the company’s profitability, and developing future leaders. He has served as an unrelenting advocate for Deere’s digital transformation.
Under Kalathur’s leadership John Deere Financial has been recognized as one of Monitor Daily’s Innovative Companies and was a nominee for Prometheus Creative Technology Solution of the Year.
Kalathur is a native of India and a U.S. citizen. He has a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Alabama and an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He was recognized by the University of Alabama College of Engineering as a Distinguished Engineering Fellow. Kalathur is a member of the Iowa Business Council, where he serves as the chairperson of the Career Ready Workforce Committee.
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