Keith J. Krach

Higher education

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels appointed Krach to the Purdue board of trustees in 2007 and he served as board chairman from 2009 to 2013. In 2012, he recruited Daniels to be the 12th president of the university. Krach currently serves on the Engineering Leadership Council (ELC).

Ariba

From 1996 to 2003, Krach served as co-founder, chairman, and CEO of business-to-business e-commerce company Ariba, creating the world's largest business network transacting $6 trillion in commerce annually. In 1999, Krach took Ariba public via an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq, with an initial valuation of $6 billion, which grew to $40 billion by 2000, making it one of the first internet software companies to go public.

In 2000, Krach led the $400 million acquisition of online business auction company Trading Dynamics Inc., and the $1.4 billion acquisition of Tradex software maker for building online communities of buyers and sellers.

DocuSign

In 2009, Krach became the chairman and in 2011 the CEO of DocuSign, a technology company which provides electronic signature and digital transaction management services. As CEO, Krach led the creation of the digital transaction management category and the building of the DocuSign Global Trust Network which now comprises more than 1.7 million customers and more than 1 billion users in 180 countries.

In January 2017, Krach named his successor as CEO of DocuSign, with his tenure as chairman ending in January 2019. He received a 97% CEO rating on Glassdoor.

DocuSign filed for its IPO in April 2018. As of that date, Krach was the largest individual shareholder unaffiliated with a venture firm.

In an interview with Inside Philanthropy, Krach signaled his intention to focus more on philanthropy upon stepping down as DocuSign chairman.

The Clean Network

Undersecretary of State Krach was responsible for the development and implementation of the Clean Network Alliance of Democracies which is designed to be a US government-led global effort to address what the State Department describes as "the long-term threat to data privacy, security, human rights and principled collaboration posed to the free world from authoritarian malign actors." Krach coined the term "The Clean Network" to describe what he described in his Senate confirmation hearing as an alliance of democracies and companies that operate by a set of trust principles.

On May 15, 2020, The Clean Network commenced with three simultaneous announcements of three related initiatives to put Huawei on the defensive and dubbed the 5G Trifecta; the onshoring of TSMC's semiconductors, the tightening of export controls on Huawei; and the global roll out of the 5G Clean Path.

Krach secured commitments to the Clean Network from other EU countries, such as Estonia, Albania, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Cyprus. In December 2020 and January 2021 Krach onboarded countries including Palau, Ukraine and Georgia.

Capital markets

Krach led the State Department's efforts to protect American investors from unknowingly financing what he described as the People's Republic of China's military, security, intelligence apparatus and, human rights abuses.

Chairman of the US-Taiwan Business Council

In July 2024, Krach accepted the position of chairman of the board of directors for the US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC), succeeding Michael R. Splinter. In this role, he leads efforts to strengthen economic and business relations between the United States and Taiwan. In January 2024, Krach led the annual Chairman's delegation of the USTBC to Taiwan, arriving shortly after Taiwan's elections. The delegation, comprising senior executives from prominent American and Taiwanese companies, expressed support for Taiwan's vibrant democracy and explored opportunities for collaboration in key industries.