| Andrew N. Liveris | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 May 1954 Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia |
| Occupation | President, Chairman and CEO, Dow Chemical |
| Spouse | Paula Liveris |
| Children | Nicholas, Alexandra, Anthony |
Andrew Liveris is a Greek-Australian-American executive from Australia and is the Chairman, CEO and President of The Dow Chemical Company based in the United States. He recently released his first book, "Make it in America: The Case for Re-Inventing The Economy", which has received wide publicity and praise in the business world. Although he is based in the United States, he is not an American citizen.
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Andrew Liveris was born in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, and attended Brisbane State High School before attending the University of Queensland where he studied chemical engineering. After graduating with first class honours in 1976, Liveris joined The Dow Chemical Company in Melbourne, Australia. He and his wife, Paula, have three children.
Liveris is President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of Dow Chemical, a $58 billion global chemical and plastics manufacturer based in Midland, Michigan. Liveris succeeded William Stavropoulos as CEO in 2004, after holding the position of Chief Operating Officer.
Liveris' 30-year Dow career has spanned manufacturing, sales, marketing, new business development and management. He has spent the bulk of his career in Asia, where he was general manager for the company's operations in Thailand, and later head of all Asia-Pacific operations.
He has been a member of Dow's Board of Directors since February 2004 and Chairman of the Board since April 1, 2006.
Under Liveris' reign as CEO, Dow was ranked 15th on Corporate Responsibility Officer (CRO) Magazine's list of top 100 best corporate citizens of 2008.[1]
Liveris, appointed CEO in 2004 after the Board of Directors unanimously selected him in part based upon his plan to transform Dow, began to implement the new strategy. His plan called for Dow to reinforce its core strengths in providing its clients with customized chemicals, plastics and advanced materials (including electronics and agricultural products such as genetically improved seeds). The plan also called for reducing Dow’s exposure to commodity chemical and plastics, which were subject to competition especially from new entrants from the Middle East and Asia, who benefit from cost advantages. Part of the plan to “de-risk” the business called for the formation of joint ventures to free up Dow capital for deployment in more specialized areas of the business as cited above. The formation of joint ventures had the further virtue of assuring a low cost supply of feed stocks for the customer-facing portion of Dow’s business. Dow has fully exited some basic chemical and plastic business (as with the sale of Styron).[2]
Liveris’ strongest move to implement the strategy came with the purchase of Rohm and Haas in the summer of 2008 for $16.2 billion. This Fortune 500 company, a leader in specialty chemicals, was the subject of a global auction, which Dow won with a bid of $16.2 billion. The acquisition proved to be synergistic in terms of growth, allowing a broader and deeper presentation to clients with regard to value-added chemicals, plastics and materials, but also in terms of costs.[3]
The acquisition closed soon after the credit crisis of 2007 and 2008 took hold. The credit crisis caused one of Dow’s joint venture partners, Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries, to withdraw from a planned partnership in basic plastics, despite an agreed contract, depriving Dow of $9 billion in proceeds designated to fund the Rohm and Haas deal. The matter remains in arbitration.
In March 2009, Liveris and his management team organized a plan to implement the Rohm and Haas integration, focusing on growth and cost synergies, but also reducing costly debt from the transaction through public offerings, along with equity offers. The plan also called for the divestiture of non-strategic assets, which was accomplished through a sales process that assured maximum valuation.[4]
During the Rohm and Haas acquisition, in December 2008, Liveris was quoted as saying "Dow is the only company in the Fortune 200 to have paid its regular quarterly cash dividend without reduction or interruption since 1912. That is 388 consecutive quarters. I have said it before, but I want to say it again, we will not break that streak. Not Dow, not on my watch".[3]. The following quarter Dow cut its dividend by 65%.[5]
Liveris has continued to form joint ventures for the basics business, his most recent initiative in chlor-alkali with the Mitsui Group in Japan as a partner.[6]
The recovery plan has been accompanied by a sixfold recovery in the share price.
Liveris is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of The Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Liveris is the chairman of the board of the American Chemistry Council and of the International Council of Chemical Associations.[7]
On June 24, 2011, Liveris was appointed Co-Chair of U.S. President Barack Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership in the United States.[8] [9]
On February 23, 2010, Liveris joined IBM's board of directors. He was selected because of his extensive expertise in operating in Asian markets.[10][11]
He is also a trustee of Tufts University and a board member of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation.