Liveris departing; Fitterling named president of Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical Co. boss Andrew Liveris will ride off into the sunset by the middle of next year.

Liveris announced the move Feb. 2 during a conference call with analysts. The 61-year-old has served as Dow's president and CEO since 2004 and also as chairman since 2006. He is in his 40th year overall with the Midland, Mich.-based company.

Dow also on Feb. 2 announced that James Fitterling has been appointed the firm's president and chief operating officer. The 32-year Dow veteran previously had been vice chairman and COO.

The announcements come as Dow prepares for its historic merger with fellow U.S. plastics and chemicals giant DuPont Co. The two firms announced the merger on Dec. 11.

The combined business will be known as DowDuPont and will have annual sales of $83 billion. Then in the next 18-24 months, that firm will be split into three separate public companies in order to better capitalize on growth opportunities. Plastics units will be contained in a material science company that by far will be the largest of the three with annual sales of $51 billion.

Liveris will serve as executive chairman of the new firm and also will lead the material science firm until his departure. In a Feb. 2 news release, Liveris said that Fitterling “is performing a critical role for our team in the work that is already well underway on the completion of the DowDuPont merger.”

“In Jim and our Chief Financial Officer Howard Ungerleider, I am pleased to have two outstanding leaders as part of the senior leadership team at Dow leading this historic transformation of our company and our industry,” he added.