Ken Gray

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"I chose to work at Dig Robotics as it addresses one of the most critical challenges in excavation - the enormous variations in productivity and efficiency among operators. In my mind, efficiency is like Vitamin C for construction and mining. Companies who are not constantly striving to improve efficiency likely won’t survive.

In 2nd grade I told my mom I was going to design ‘big yellow machines.’ That's all I ever wanted to do. My entire career has focused on excavation machines – nearly 40 years of developing, manufacturing, marketing, and supporting construction and mining equipment, customers and dealers worldwide.

I was honored to serve as Caterpillar’s first Global Director of Innovation, as Director of CAT's Building Construction Products Division and later as an Excavation Division Director leading CAT’s worldwide excavator businesses. The great teams I was fortunate to lead influenced five generations of Caterpillar excavators, which continue to serve their customers well today. 

I also advocate for people with vision impairments. My family and I have a very rare heritable retinal disease, so I have been deeply engaged with the University of Iowa's renowned Institute for Vision Research for almost as long as I have worked with excavators. As Director Emeritus of the Central Illinois Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, my mission is to help level the playing field to ensure people with vision impairments have ample opportunities to participate fully in the community where I grew up.

One of my dreams is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Few people realize that excavation-related emissions are as high as emissions from commercial aviation, arguably higher. So in reducing fuel consumption, Dig is doing important work for the health of our planet."