Materials Science Company (to be called Dow) Announces Senior Leadership Succession
Jim Fitterling to Serve as Chief Executive Officer
Howard Ungerleider to Serve as President and Chief Financial Officer
MIDLAND, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Materials Science Division of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), today
announced that the Materials Advisory Committee of the DowDuPont Board
of Directors, intends to appoint Jim Fitterling, currently Chief
Operating Officer for the Materials Science Division of DowDuPont, and
President and Chief Operating Officer of The Dow Chemical Company, to
the role of Chief Executive Officer of the intended Materials Science
Company to
be called Dow, as announced on Feb. 26, 2018, upon intended
separation of the company.
Additionally, the Materials Advisory Committee also announced that
Howard Ungerleider, Chief Financial Officer of DowDuPont, and Vice
Chairman and Chief Financial Officer for The Dow Chemical Company, will
serve as President and Chief Financial Officer of the intended Materials
Science Company.
Both Fitterling and Ungerleider will continue to serve in their current
roles at DowDuPont until the completion of the division’s intended
separation, which is expected to occur by the end of first quarter of
2019.
“Ensuring a thoughtful and orderly leadership succession has been a top
priority for the Board and for me throughout my tenure as CEO and as a
result we have had a very comprehensive succession process since the
beginning of my tenure. We have conducted a robust and thorough
validation of our candidates through internal and external benchmarking,
and as we stated upon the announcement of the DowDuPont transaction, we
intended to announce the future leadership of Dow in advance of the spin
and creation of the new Dow,” said Andrew N. Liveris, current DowDuPont
Executive Chairman. “Therefore we believe that now is a good time to put
in place the succession plans. Many of our mega-investments, including
in Saudi Arabia and on the U.S. Gulf Coast, have started up; the
integration of Dow Corning is complete; and our plans to launch the
three new spincos are almost completed, with the spin of the future Dow
set for the end of the first quarter of 2019. I am confident there is no
better leader than Jim, nor a better team of Jim and Howard, to lead Dow
into the next chapter of our storied history.”
Liveris added, “Jim and Howard have been valued members of Dow’s and my
most senior leadership team and have each played a pivotal role in
developing and executing Dow’s market-driven strategy. Working
side-by-side with both individuals over the last number of years, I have
seen first-hand their unrivaled knowledge of our business and industry,
unparalleled understanding of our customer’s needs, and commitment to
fostering an innovative, collaborative and inclusive culture for our
people. I am proud of both of them as leaders and as representatives of
Dow’s values.”
“It has been an unbelievable honor to lead Dow for the last 15 years,
and I am extremely proud of the work our people have done over that time
to put Dow in the position it is in today – the world’s leading
Materials Science company. Dow’s future is extremely bright,” concluded
Liveris.
“I am very excited and humbled to lead Dow into its next phase of
growth,” said Fitterling. “Andrew led one of the most complex and
forward-looking corporate transformations in all of industry. As a
result, today Dow delivers higher and more stable returns for our
investors, more innovative and collaborative solutions for our
customers, and more world-class opportunities for our employees. I am
committed to working with Howard, and the rest of the Dow team, to
further this momentum. Our goal is to continue to exceed the
expectations of our customers and shareholders by leveraging our
integration-backed and innovation-led business model to provide
solutions to world-scale challenges.”
Fitterling’s Career Background
Fitterling has played a key role in developing and executing Dow’s
strategy to invest in a market-driven portfolio of advantaged and
technology-enabled businesses that create value for Dow shareholders and
customers. He joined Dow in 1984 and served in a variety of Sales,
Marketing and Supply Chain positions before being named Commercial
Director for Liquid Separations, Dow Pacific in the mid-1990s. He later
was named to lead the Liquid Separations business unit and served as
President and CEO of FilmTec Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Dow based in the U.S.
Then, he returned to Asia Pacific where he led the whole of Dow’s
operations in Thailand and the SCG-Dow Group of joint venture companies,
and subsequently was named CEO of The OPTIMAL Group, affiliate of
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), Malaysia's state-owned oil
corporation and The Dow Chemical Company.
For the past 10 years, Fitterling has managed significant portions of
the Company and has led a number of strategic and transformative
actions. He has served as president of Dow Packaging and Specialty
Plastics business; and as senior vice president of Corporate
Development. In this role, he led the carve out of Dow’s styrenics and
chlorine businesses, as well as $6 billion of growth projects on the
U.S. Gulf Coast. In 2015, he was named vice chairman and chief operating
officer, adding executive oversight for all of Dow’s businesses and
operations, and led the merger of equals with DuPont. He was named to
his current role in 2016. At the same time, he has been driving a
strategy to deploy digitalization to improve the way the company
innovates, serves customers, inspires employees and delivers on its
sustainability goals and objectives.
Fitterling is a member of the Board of Directors of the National
Association of Manufacturers, a member of the Board of Directors of the
Chemical Financial Corporation, and a member of the Board of Directors
of Sadara Chemical Company. Fitterling earned a Bachelor's degree in
mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri – Columbia.
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Ungerleider’s Career Background
Ungerleider joined Dow in 1990 and his career has spanned a wide variety
of commercial, business, financial, geographic, functional and
enterprise-level leadership roles. In 1997, he relocated to Dow's
European headquarters in Switzerland, where he had management
responsibilities for several of Dow's specialty polyolefin brands.
Ungerleider was named Business Director for Dow's global Wire and Cable
Compounds business in 2000, and in 2004, he became the Global Director
of Integrated Supply Chain for Plastics, Performance Chemicals and
Thermosets. In 2006, he was appointed North American Commercial Vice
President for Dow's $6 billion Basic Plastics business portfolio.
He was named President for Dow’s Performance Plastics Division in 2011.
In 2012, he was named Executive Vice President of Dow’s Advanced
Materials Division and joined Dow’s senior-most executive team. Under
his leadership, the Advanced Materials businesses grew to more than $11
billion in sales across more than 130 countries. He was elected as CFO
by Dow’s Board of Directors in 2014 and was named Vice Chairman in 2015.
He was appointed CFO of DowDuPont in May 2016 effective upon the close
of the merger transaction between Dow and DuPont, which occurred on
August 31, 2017.
Ungerleider earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Texas in
Austin and a Master's degree in Business Administration from University
of California in Los Angeles. He serves on the Boards of Directors of
the Michigan Israel Business Bridge, Mid-Michigan Baseball Foundation,
Keep America Beautiful and the Board of Trustees of The Rollin M.
Gerstacker Foundation; and is a member of the Executive Committee of the
Business Leaders for Michigan business roundtable.
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About DowDuPont™
DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP) is a holding company comprised of The Dow
Chemical Company and DuPont with the intent to form strong, independent,
publicly traded companies in agriculture, materials science and
specialty products sectors that will lead their respective industries
through productive, science-based innovation to meet the needs of
customers and help solve global challenges. For more information, please
visit us at www.dow-dupont.com.
About Dow
The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) combines science and technology knowledge
to develop premier materials science solutions that are essential to
human progress. Dow has one of the strongest and broadest toolkits in
the industry, with robust technology, asset integration, scale and
competitive capabilities that enable it to address complex global
issues. Dow’s market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of advanced
materials, industrial intermediates, and plastics businesses deliver a
broad range of differentiated technology-based products and solutions
for customers in high-growth markets such as packaging, infrastructure,
and consumer care. Dow is a subsidiary of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), a
holding company comprised of Dow and DuPont with the intent to form
three strong, independent, publicly traded companies in agriculture,
materials science and specialty sectors. More information can be found
at www.dow.com.
Contacts
DowDuPont
Media Contact:
Rachelle Schikorra, 1
989-638-4090
[email protected]
or
Investor
Contact:
Neal Sheorey, 1 989-636-6347
[email protected]