Deere & Co. announced today that Samuel Allen will retire as the company’s chairman of the board, effective May 1. He has been chairman for the past 10 years and has spent his entire 45-year career with Deere. The company’s board has elected its chief executive officer, John May, to become chairman upon Allen’s retirement. Allen has been chairman since 2010 and was CEO from 2009 to 2019. May was named CEO in November 2019. Allen led the company to record growth and success. Over his decade of leadership, the company expanded its customer base, increased its global footprint, and made major gains in innovation and precision technologies. “This was also a time of unmatched financial success, which included nine of the 10 highest-earning years in company history,” May said.