Caterpillar Hands Its Mining Business to Solar Turbines Chief Derrick York

Denise Johnson, who led Resource Industries back to profitability, will retire in February 2027 after a transition period as adviser

Caterpillar is changing the leadership of the segment that serves mining and quarrying customers. Derrick York, currently president of Solar Turbines and a Caterpillar senior vice president, will become group president of Resource Industries on 1 November 2026.

He succeeds Denise Johnson, who has elected to retire effective 1 February 2027. From 1 November she will take on an advisory role to support the handover.

Johnson’s legacy

Johnson joined Caterpillar in 2011 and has led Resource Industries since 2016. According to the company, she returned the segment to profitability and delivered its strongest financial performance in more than a decade.

“The greatest accomplishment of any leader is leaving an organization better positioned for the future,” Johnson said.

Derris York has run Solar Turbines, the Caterpillar business that makes industrial gas turbines and compressors, since 2023. Over 16 years with the company he has also led the Oil & Gas and Marine division and held finance and corporate development roles. Before Caterpillar he worked in banking and public accounting. He holds a finance degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

“Derrick is a highly respected leader who understands our customers, our strategy and the industries we serve,” said Joe Creed, Caterpillar chairman and CEO.

For mining customers and dealers, the appointment brings a leader with a background in energy and large industrial equipment to a segment where electrification, autonomy and power supply at the mine site are increasingly connected.

Caterpillar Hands Its Mining Business to Solar Turbines Chief Derrick York published on The HeavyQuip Magazine.