Women Worth Watching 2015
Jennifer Green
CIO Uses IS Savvy to Streamline Pepper’s Business Strategy
Jennifer Green began her career with Pepper Construction Group as a project accountant before serving in a variety of controller positions, including CFO for the company’s Illinois operation. In 2013, she was named chief information officer and in 2014, she was promoted to her current position—chief knowledge and information officer.
Focusing her energy on building a bridge between business strategy and information systems, Jennifer led the design and implementation of a single, integrated system (CMiC) that replaced more than a dozen independent systems and had the effect of eliminating redundancies, improving efficiencies, and providing real-time information to the entire construction team. Today, she is collaborating with CMiC to develop mobile applications that will put information in the hands of project teams on the ground. She also leads Pepper’s innovation cohort—a group of eight cross-functional employees investigating and funding technologies and ideas that drive real value for our customers.
“Always look for ways to improve.”
“I think my biggest career leap was when I moved from CFO at the subsidiary level to Chief Information Officer at the corporate level,” said Jennifer. “I learned to adapt and use my talents to contribute to the company’s success. I’m more focused on uniting the organization as a whole and not letting one subsidiary be the sole driver.”
Jennifer joined Pepper Construction Group in 1999 after earning her Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Arkansas State University and her MBA from Northern Illinois University. She is a frequent speaker on technology systems in the construction industry, and was recently featured in the AGC’s IT forum.
Education: MBA, Northern Illinois University; BS, Arkansas State University
First Job: Camp Counselor for a day camp in Little Rock, Arkansas
What I’m Reading: “Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader” by Herminia Ibarra
The most important quality a woman leader should have is…
…integrity.
The career advice I’d give my former self:
Build strong relationships, working as part of a team will always accomplish more.
Words I live by:
Always look for ways to improve.
The one thing I’d do differently in my career, knowing what I know now, is…
…speak up and advocate for myself.
When I really need to focus on a project, I…
…block out everything. I shut down my email, silence my phone, turn off all notifications.
My biggest career leap (and what I learned from it) was…
…when I moved from CFO at the subsidiary level to Chief Information Officer at the corporate level. I learned to adapt and use my talents to contribute to the company’s success. I’m more focused on uniting the organization as a whole and not letting one subsidiary be the sole driver.
Being a woman in my profession has been…
…challenging and rewarding.
I’ve learned that failure is…
…always a learning opportunity. When something doesn’t work, you have an opportunity to learn from it and improve for the next round.
I maintain a healthy personal life by…
…spending time with my family and making them a priority.
I knew my present career was what I wanted to do when…
…I was in the midst of leading an ERP implementation. I get great satisfaction from using technology to challenge and improve our business process.
