Corporate Vice President and CIO Dow Chemical Co. Dave Kepler is a practical risk taker. That’s not an oxymoron. It’s a guiding principle. In 27 years at Dow, the 49-year-old CIO has pioneered cutting-edge technologies, making Dow a leading user of IT, and that experience has taught him the difference between smart risks and foolish choices. “If you can understand what the issues are and be pragmatic when approaching something,” he says, “I think you know how to pick the right things.”Under Kepler’s direction in the mid-1990s, Midland, Mich.-based Dow was one of the first companies to successfully install an ERP system. Since becoming CIO in 1998, Kepler has driven Dow’s investment in Elemica, a B2B electronic marketplace, and been an early adopter of voice-over-IP technology to carry Dow’s telephone and data services. Kepler has also made some unconventional decisions to stick with legacy systems?notably migrating Union Carbide back to an old version of SAP after its merger with Dow. “His strategy around that is crystal clear,” says Stewart McCutcheon, CTO with Elemica. “He’s made his investment in ERP, and upgrading isn’t going to buy him much.” From age 12 through his early 20s, Kepler worked in his father and uncle’s hardware store in his hometown of Pleasant Hill, Calif. There, he picked up three pieces of wisdom: First, success depends on your relationship with your customers; second, cash flow is critical; and third, “spend money as if it’s your own because it is,” Kepler says. At the University of California in nearby Berkeley, he’d planned to become an oceanographer but “got into chemistry” and graduated with a degree in chemical engineering. “Computers were being used [for] controlling plants, and that got me into the broader IT area,” he says. Related content feature Red Hat embraces hybrid cloud for internal IT The maker of OpenShift has leveraged its own open container offering to migrate business-critical apps to AWS as part of a strategy to move beyond facilitating hybrid cloud for others and capitalize on the model for itself. By Paula Rooney May 29, 2023 5 mins CIO 100 Technology Industry Hybrid Cloud feature 10 most popular IT certifications for 2023 Certifications are a great way to show employers you have the right IT skills and specializations for the job. These 10 certs are the ones IT pros are most likely to pursue, according to data from Dice. By Sarah K. White May 26, 2023 8 mins Certifications Careers interview Stepping up to the challenge of a global conglomerate CIO role Dr. Amrut Urkude became CIO of Reliance Polyester after his company was acquired by Reliance Industries. He discusses challenges IT leaders face while transitioning from a small company to a large multinational enterprise, and how to overcome them. By Yashvendra Singh May 26, 2023 7 mins Digital Transformation Careers brandpost With the new financial year looming, now is a good time to review your Microsoft 365 licenses By Veronica Lew May 25, 2023 5 mins Lenovo Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe