UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lori Koch, the CEO of DuPont, shared four key lessons with graduates during her address to the 2025 Penn State Smeal College of Business commencement ceremony on May 10 at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Koch has spent the past 20 years as a finance leader at DuPont, demonstrating expertise across a broad spectrum of finance disciplines. As CEO, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the company to accelerate growth, unlock value, advance innovation and drive operational and functional excellence.
Prior to her appointment as CEO in June 2024, Koch served as chief financial officer of DuPont, where she played a leading role in reshaping the company’s portfolio for higher growth and profitability, driving operational discipline and implementing a balanced financial policy.
From November 2022 until being named CEO, she also led DuPont’s corporate businesses, which are primarily focused on the fast-growing electric vehicle market. Before serving as CFO, Koch served as vice president of investor relations and corporate financial planning and analysis since June 2019. She joined the company in 2003.
Koch graduated from Penn State in 1997 with a bachelor’s in finance and international business.
Smeal conferred degrees to more than 2,000 students in four different spring ceremonies. The college graduated 1,611 undergraduate students, 63 students from the Integrated Master of Accounting Program, three doctoral students, 200 Penn State Online and residential MBA students, 97 online master’s students and 75 residential master’s students.
Koch told the gathering that she could boil down her journey to four key lessons:
- Be true to yourself and do what you love
- Be confident and take risks
- Know that you are well prepared to lead
- Embrace networking
Koch said that she knew from a very young age that she loved numbers and wanted to be in business. She recounted how she was excited that, as an 8-year-old, she received a Christmas gift that included everything she needed to start a Mary Kay cosmetics business. Then, at age 11, she set up an insurance company in her parents’ garage using the papers from a neighbor who had recently retired from the Travelers Group.
“As embarrassing as these stories may sound now, having the passion for business from such a young age really helped to ultimately get me to where I am today,” she said.
“It was by following what I loved that led me to Smeal, and ultimately to a very satisfying career in finance and business.”
Next, Koch talked about a couple setbacks she experienced early in her professional career.
She detailed how she left a well-established company for a startup and, 18 months later, the venture wasn’t successful and she was unemployed at 27. Seven years later, she said she was mid-career at DuPont with aspirations of an expanded role and a promotion. Even though she felt she was the best candidate, she wasn’t selected.
“These setbacks — and my quiet confidence that I knew I had what it takes to succeed — helped me to build resiliency, learn how to adapt and how to better advocate for myself. And now years later, I can say those experiences made me better,” she said.
“Taking the easy way is rarely the answer. Those that make an impact are typically the ones that take risks and never lose sight of what made them curious and inspired.”
Koch then explained what she learned during a visit to campus a few years ago. She spent the day with several students, many of whom she thought were in the audience, and was “blown away” by the amount of activities those students were involved in, including THON.
“I learned for the first time from a certain outspoken broadcaster that was discussing NIL money on College Gameday that Penn State, not Harvard, not Stanford, not Michigan, graduates the highest number of CEOs — and that should be of no surprise to any of you in the room today just given the quality of education and experiences that are open to you here at Penn State,” she said.
Finally, Koch talked about the power of networking, citing the extensive Penn State and Smeal networks of alumni. She told the story of having the “great fortune” of finding both a mentor and advocate in a well-respected and long-tenured CEO who gave her valuable advice and support.
“This relationship started through utilizing an earlier piece of advice — I took a risk. Soon after I met him, while working in investor relations, I had some 1:1 time with him returning from an event in Florida,” she said.
“He casually asked me what I wanted to be and before he could finish his sentence, I said I want to be a CFO. He said, ‘OK, bring me your resume and let’s talk about what you need to get there.’ Several years later, he remembered that conversation and presented me with a custom business card that said “I want to be a CFO” on the back and my name on the front. It was a day I’ll never forget.”