A. O. Smith has hired Chris Howe as the company’s new senior vice president and chief digital information officer (CDIO) to replace Melissa Scheppele, chief information officer (CIO).

Howe was most recently the chief executive officer and co-founder of Rise and Shift, a boutique cloud transformation and Generative AI consulting firm. Prior to starting Rise and Shift, he worked at 3M in multiple leadership roles.

“We made the change from CIO to CDIO intentionally to reflect our focus of selecting a leader with the experience to oversee our current technology operations and the vision to drive digital innovation across the company,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Shafer.

This role will encompass all traditional CIO responsibilities while emphasizing the development of new digital strategies to support the business. As CDIO, Howe will lead organization-wide digital transformation initiatives, drive digital innovation and emerging technology adoption, and implement advanced data analytics and AI capabilities, while fostering digital culture and organizational change.

Howe is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, serving in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, as well as Operation “Sea Angel,” bringing critical humanitarian aid to Bangladesh following a devastating cyclone that struck the southeastern coast of the country.