Ricky Raven serves as Vice President—Associate General Counsel——Litigation and Regulatory Law for John Deere. An esteemed and veteran lawyer with more than 35 years of experience, Ricky has served in senior leadership roles for a variety of organizations in the Fortune 100, higher education institutions, and global law firms. Renowned for his skills in both the courtroom and boardroom, he is an experienced corporate executive with exceptional skills at team building, and a demonstrated a track record of achieving enterprise goals and mentoring young professionals to achieve career success.

With more than 35 years of first-chair trial experience and jury verdicts across the United States, Ricky has extensive corporate board exposure and experience in insurance, chemical manufacturing, and oil and gas production. Prior to joining Deere, he oversaw the outside counsel activities of a $30 billion company, while fostering an environment where his team thrived and achieved excellence. He was instrumental in numerous initiatives, including developing and implementing strategies for efficiently resolving legal disputes nationally, developing programs that speak to the unique relationship between in-house counsel and outside counsel, and championed a process redesign in engaging outside counsel that resulted in millions of dollars in annual cost savings.

Outside the office, Ricky is heavily involved in both the business and civic communities, including serving as a member of the University of Houston System Board of Regents and as a board trustee at Southwestern University, the University of Houston Foundation, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. He serves as an independent board trustee for CenterPoint Energy.

Location: Sugar Land