Dow Names Karen Carter as New CEO in a Historic Move

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 16 April 2026

• Karen Carter appointed as CEO of Dow
• Jim Fitterling shifts to Executive Chair role
• Planned transition ensures continuity and growth

Dow’s Chief Commercial Officer and President of the Packaging & Specialty Plastics business, Carter is an accomplished leader with over 25 years of experience at Dow, where she has held various leadership roles in the areas of commercial, marketing, and sustainability.  The appointment of Carter as the first woman to serve in the role as CEO at Dow marks a historic achievement for the Company, which has operated for 126 years.

Carter will fill the role of Jim Fitterling who has served as CEO of Dow since 2018.  Jim Fitterling will move to the role of Executive Chair of the Company’s Board of Directors following a successful transition period.  This succession announcement is a result of extensive succession planning completed over the past several years, to help ensure that a seamless transition occurs and support the continued execution of Dow’s strategy.

Richard Davis, Dow’s Independent Lead Director, Said, “Jim has led Dow through significant transformation and growth, while Karen is an exceptional leader with a deep understanding of our business and customers. Her appointment reflects our confidence in her ability to advance Dow’s strategy and create long-term value for stakeholders.”

Jim revolutionized Dow by moving away from being a conglomerate towards having a higher degree of focus and resiliency, which made it easier to create innovative products. He successfully led Dow through its separation from the larger conglomerate DowDuPont while navigating macroeconomic/geopolitical challenges as well as meeting the company's sustainability objectives.

His leadership helped direct the company toward investing more resources into faster-growing areas of the economy such as packaging and specialty coatings while also instilling a safety/performance/inclusiveness based corporate culture within the organization.

Reflecting on his time as CEO, Jim said, “Serving as Dow’s CEO has been the privilege of a lifetime. I look forward to supporting Karen and the team as Executive Chair, ensuring strong execution and continuity.” In his new role, Jin will focus on governance, long-term strategy, and external relationships.

Carter has had an accomplished and long-standing career within Dow, serving in multiple key operational, business leadership, and customer engagement positions, including the Chief Operating Officer, who was responsible for overseeing all operational segments and functional areas of Dow in order to improve performance and implement innovative ideas; prior to this role, she was the President of Packaging & Specialty Plastics where she was instrumental in driving the implementation of Circular Economy solutions and creating value growth through the upgrading of equipment and expansion of capacity.

Carter said, “I am honored to lead Dow into its next chapter.” “Our focus remains on delivering innovative solutions for customers and creating long-term value for all stakeholders, while accelerating our transformation to set new standards in performance,” she added.