Hans W. Becherer, Retired Deere & Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Among Six Business Leaders Named to Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame

MOLINE, Ill., March 22 -- Hans W. Becherer, retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Deere & Company , will be among six business leaders inducted into the Junior Achievement (JA) National Business Hall of Fame during the 30th annual induction ceremony Thursday in Philadelphia.

Joining Becherer as a 2004 Hall of Fame laureate will be Edward Donley, former Chairman, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.; Herbert Kelleher, Chairman of the Board, Southwest Airlines; Frank Shrontz, Chairman Emeritus, The Boeing Company; Robert B. Wegman, Chairman, Wegmans Food Markets; and the late Joseph Wharton, founder of Bethlehem Steel and The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

"This honor occurs because of my good fortune to have been with Deere & Company for my 38-year business career," said Becherer. "John Deere is a proud supporter of Junior Achievement and I have no doubt that tomorrow's laureates can be found among the thousands of students benefiting from Junior Achievement's excellent programs today."

After a distinguished career, Becherer retired as chairman of Deere & Company in August 2000. He held a variety of positions managing operations around the world before he became president and chief operating officer in 1987 and chief executive officer in 1989. In 1990, he was named chairman of Deere & Company's Board of Directors.

During his tenure, Deere expanded globally, decentralized and focused operations to become even more responsive to the company's different customers and instilled processes of continuous improvement in all facets of the business. Becherer introduced "Genuine Value" -- a concept that helped ensure continuation of the company's core values of integrity, quality, commitment and innovation.

Becherer received his MBA from Harvard University and is a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. Under his leadership, the John Deere Foundation enhanced its emphasis on funding educational programs such as Junior Achievement, which received John Deere Foundation support each year since Becherer began leading the company.

As well, hundreds of John Deere employees are involved each year in teaching Junior Achievement classes, hosting JA job shadows and helping to raise funds for Junior Achievement programs.

Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. For 30 years, the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame event has honored the nation's most distinguished businessmen and women for outstanding contributions to free enterprise.

Each year, Junior Achievement asks the nation's top business leaders to choose laureates worthy of induction. Inductees are presented as role models for America's youth. Deere & Company's founder, John Deere, is among those inducted in previous years as a Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame laureate.