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Gary P. Scholten is the executive vice president and chief information officer of the Principal Financial Group®, responsible for overseeing the company’s use of Information Technology. He also leads the company’s use of offshore resourcing, and oversees sourcing and supplier management, and corporate strategic development.

Scholten joined the company in 1980 as an assistant planning analyst, and was elected an officer and named assistant director in 1989, director of Information Systems in 1992, second vice president – Information Services in 1994, vice president – Retail Information Services in 1998, and to senior vice president and chief information officer in 2002. He was promoted to executive vice president in 2014. A native of Larchwood, Iowa, Scholten received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

Scholten is a fellow of the Life Office Management Institute and is past chair of the LOMA Individual Product Systems Committee. He chairs Principal Global Services, Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Principal Financial Group located in Pune, India. He also serves on two Principal International Chilean Boards: Principal International de Chile S.A, and Principal Asset Management Chile S.A. Scholten previously served as Chairman of the Board for the Technology Association of Iowa. In 2011, he was appointed to serve on the Iowa Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Council.