Chief Inclusion Officer at Dow Chemical
Karen S. Carter serves as the Chief Inclusion Officer for the Dow Chemical Company. Carter is responsible globally for guiding and directing Dow’s efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive environment and workforce, building off the progress the Company has made in recent years. As Dow’s first Chief Inclusion Officer, she will lead a team to drive Dow into the forefront of inclusive companies and integrate diversity and inclusion as a key driver and enabler of the Company’s growth strategy.
Carter has more than 20 years of experience with Dow. Before assuming her current responsibilities, Carter held the role of North America commercial vice president, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics (P&SP). In her role, Carter was a member of the global business leadership team and was responsible for the overall profit & loss of P&SP’s North America region, which is part of Dow’s Performance Plastics Division and represents more than $18.4B in sales. Her responsibilities included developing and driving the business strategy and delivering value creation initiatives that would help better serve customers and the entire industry.
Carter has held the position of global business director for Dow P&SP as well and was responsible for the Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and Slurry Polyethylene value centers. Prior to that, she was a global marketing director leading the global strategy for all downstream engagements within the packaging value chain to develop new business opportunities and deliver solutions for sustainable packaging. Carter has also held roles with Building and Construction, Gas Phase Polyethylene, Engineering Thermoplastics, Fabricated Products and Information Technology Equipment and Consumer Electronics.
Carter is a board member of Kids’ Meal, a non-profit organization in Houston, TX that seeks to end childhood hunger by delivering free, healthy meals. She is an active member of The Links, Inc. which serves the Houston community through educational, civic and intercultural activities. Carter is also a previous member of the Dow Kakoh Kabushiki Kaisha board of directors, a joint venture between Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited and The Dow Chemical Company, and was board chair of the Adoption Option, Inc. board of directors. Carter has also been published in the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association and featured in the Huffington Post and MORE Magazine.
Carter has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Howard University and a master’s degree in international business from DePaul University. She has also completed various executive training programs including the Young Executive’s Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Strategic Leadership Program at China Europe International Business School, and the International Program at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. In 2014, Carter was named to the prestigious Forty Women to Watch Over 40 list for her innovative leadership contributions. In 2018, Carter was named a Top Executive in Corporate Diversity by Black Enterprise.
