Linsey Ackerman is a transformational strategic planning leader with more than 20 years of experience. As the director of strategy for Caterpillar Financial Services, Ackerman leads the executive team in establishing and executing Caterpillar’s strategic priorities to enable growth and strength in its global business.

Ackerman led the team to establish a stretch goal to grow the aftermarket services financing business using Franklin Covey’s Four Disciplines of Execution methodology and tools. She provided excellent leadership, coaching and training to Caterpillar’s executive team, along with more than 500 global leaders and employees, and spearheaded the overall program governance.

Ackerman has held many diverse roles, establishing herself as an internal expert and “go-to” person for leading practices on strategy development and execution, as well as project and operations management. Many roles have required her to lead without authority, be empowered to make decisions and grow her intellectual curiosity. Her accomplishments include successfully leading a global lean / continuous improvement deployment and educating more than 1,200 leaders and employees.

Ackerman also led Caterpillar’s building construction products division from vision to launch of the first machine sales online platform. She managed the project team and multiple stakeholders using keen negotiation skills, leveraging people, project and change management tools and overall risk mitigation. The project, a first of its kind, was complex due to the nature of Caterpillar’s business and the involvement of Caterpillar dealers and customers. Ackerman received Caterpillar’s excellence award for her leadership and was nominated for three other projects within 18 months.

“Linsey is a strategic and thoughtful leader who plays a critical role in the success of Cat Financial,” Dave Walton, president of Caterpillar Financial, says. “As the director of strategy, she leads our senior leadership team in executing our priorities as well as our project management office in delivering continuous improvement throughout our organization. Linsey makes our executive team better – individually, and as a team. When Cat Financial adopted the four disciplines of execution in early 2022 to drive the achievement of a significant company-wide goal, Linsey led the deployment of 4DX and has been recognized as an industry expert by Franklin Covey. Thanks to her leadership, we are seeing a breakthrough in this area of our business. I appreciate Linsey’s contributions and am thankful to have her on the team.”

Ackerman is a supporter of Caterpillar Financial’s employee resource groups. She actively participates, previously held leadership roles in the Women’s Initiative Network and serves on the group’s mentorship program steering committee. She is on the board of the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence and is a member of the International Association for Strategy Professionals and the Project Management Institute.

Ackerman is regarded as a strong leader who has a passion for helping others succeed. She spends time coaching and mentoring both formally and informally and leads with vision, perseverance and a positive attitude. She stands to be a strong role model and voice for women in business and working moms.

“Have the courage to show up, be seen and raise your hand to do the work others don’t want to do. When you work hard at every task, no matter how small or unimportant it may seem, you will stand out, learn a ton and set yourself up for success.”