Thursday, July 30, 2026

Dow’s brand-new CEO is blessed to be stressed

Former Dow COO Karen Carter became the company’s new CEO at the beginning of July.

Courtesy of Dow

Karen S. Carter is blessed to be stressed.

She’s the new CEO of Dow, 30 years into her career at the chemicals business. Her accolades include: one of three Black female CEOs in the Fortune 500, the first woman and first Black person to run almost 130-year-old Dow, and No. 88 on the 2026 Most Powerful Women list. Carter officially started her role on July 1 and presided over her first earnings report as CEO last week. Meanwhile, the company is grappling with financial losses, a corporate restructuring, thousands of layoffs, and the shuttering of some European plants.

But this is what the CEO recently told my colleague Jordan Blum, Fortune‘s energy editor.

“There’s a saying that it’s a blessing to be stressed by the thing you prayed for and hoped for,” she said. “This is really a privilege and an honor to be leading this company in such a time of change.”

Anyone in Carter’s position would be stressed, really. She’s running one of the most complex businesses in the world. As CEO, a typical day involves the impact of the Iran war, worldwide supply chain disruptions, and ongoing global uncertainty. In her conversation with Jordan, Carter described everything from Dow’s ethylene and polethylene business (or plastics), to its new line of business cooling data centers, to its potential to benefit from the rise of GLP-1s, which increases demand for laxatives, with Dow manufacturing key components ( “Maybe you wouldn’t want to put this in an article,” she said of the laxatives tidbit; wrong on that count!). All in all, a lot for one CEO to keep track of.

“It’s been a long time since we posted a quarter like this,” Carter told Jordan after presiding over her first earnings. “We anticipate that we’ll continue to be in a bit of a volatile environment. But we remain committed to what we said we were going to do, which is execute on our self-help and maximize the [third] quarter based on the market fundamentals.”

For much more on Dow’s complex business, Carter’s transformation strategy, and where Dow is headed next, read Jordan’s full story here.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

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