Dive Brief:
- Kathryn Freytag has joined Ingersoll Rand as its new VP and CIO, the company announced Tuesday. Freytag replaced Jeff Koepke, who retired after two years at the company, according to his LinkedIn.
- Freytag will lead the company's global IT organization, in charge of strategy, operations, infrastructure and applications, according to the announcement. In her role, Freytag will serve on the executive committee and report to CFO Vikram Kini. Ingersoll Rand did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
- Freytag previously served as CIO at iFIT, a health and fitness subscription technology company, starting in 2021. She brings two decades of industry experience to Ingersoll Rand, including a six-year stint as CIO and VP of IT at Honeywell.
Dive Insight:
Technology executives have a dual mandate to uphold and maintain existing systems while guiding companies through broad transformation using technology.
Examples exist across industries. Duke Energy built a VR training program for its technicians and later began selling it to other companies. Deere, an agriculture equipment manufacturer, developed and released an autonomous tractor. Walmart took its e-commerce solution, created alongside Adobe, and brought it to market.
Innovative technology solutions are a catalyst for profitable growth and unlocking new value. The question is where exactly Ingersoll Rand, a multinational industrial solutions provider, will look to grow.
"Looking at Kathryn Freytag’s resume, she has more than 25 years of experience in similar roles," said Brian Jackson, research director at Info-Tech Research Group, in an email. "That should position her to identify the best model for technology innovation at Ingersoll Rand and then execute on it."
One potential option is to identify moonshot goals to increase efficiency or new value, according to Jackson.
Businesses devoting resources to AI often see revenue upsides, for example. Accenture data found these businesses produce on average 30% of their revenue from capabilities such as facial recognition, advanced scenario planning and translating speech-to-text.
The push toward transformation is a top-down priority. Eight in 10 CEOs say they want to maintain or increase the pace of digital change at their companies, according to Gartner data.
