Andrew Liveris

Andrew N. Liveris (born 5 May 1954) is an Australian former CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company[5] of Midland, Michigan.[6] Liveris has been a member of Dow's board of directors since February 2004, CEO since November 2004 and was elected as chairman of the board effective 1 April 2006. Liveris became CEO in 2004 after holding the position of chief operating officer (COO). Afterwards he served as executive chairman of DowDuPont, where he remains a director. He is chairman of the board of Lucid Motors.[7]

Andrew Liveris
Liveris at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2013
Born
Andrew N. Liveris

(1954-05-05) 5 May 1954
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
NationalityAustralia[1][2]
Alma materUniversity of Queensland
Occupation(s)CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company[3][4] Chairman of Lucid Motors[3][4]
PredecessorWilliam S. Stavropoulos
SpousePaula Liveris
WebsiteBiography page

Early life and education

Liveris was born in Darwin, Australia. He is the grandson of Greek immigrants from the island of Kastellorizo and identifies strongly with his Greek heritage.[1][8] He attended Darwin High School until 1974 when Darwin was hit by Cyclone Tracy. He then moved to Brisbane where he continued his education at Brisbane State High School.[1]

He earned a bachelor's degree (first-class-honors) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland.[9] In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in science by his alma mater as well as being named Alumnus of the Year.[10]

Business career

Liveris began his career at Dow in 1976 in Melbourne, Australia.[8] He spent much of his career in Asia before moving to North America, with roles in manufacturing, engineering, sales, marketing, and business and general management. Liveris spent 14 years in Hong Kong and served as Dow's general manager in Thailand before becoming head of Dow's entire Asia-Pacific operations.[11][10]

Liveris joined Dow's board of directors in February 2004, becoming CEO in November 2004.[12] 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.[13]

His election to chairman of the board became effective 1 April 2006.[14]

Rohm and Haas acquisition

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 speciality 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.[15]

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, Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of the State of Kuwait, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), 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 London-based International Court of Arbitration ruled in March 2012 to award Dow $2.16 Billion plus cost and interest from Kuwait due to its cancellation of the 2008 agreement.[16]

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.[17]

Later time as CEO

In 2015, auditors at Dow challenged what they said was improper spending by Liveris. Auditors testified that he used the company's Customer Events Department for personal events including family events and various services. The Liveris family subsequently repaid several hundred thousand dollars to Dow. The head of the auditing department retracted the annual auditing reports for multiple years due to concerns for inaccurate reporting to SEC and shareholders.[18]

In March 2017, he said the ban on onshore gas exploration by the Victorian Government in Australia was "nonsense," and that he offered "Dow’s unfettered help with no intended positives for Dow" in learning extraction techniques.[19]

In April 2017, Dow said that it was considering retaining Liveris beyond his planned retirement on 30 June 2017, to help oversee the planned merger between Dow and DuPont.[20] In May, Dow said that Liveris would retire from the DowDuPont company mid-2018, serving as executive chairman until between April and July 2018.[21] He stepped down from his executive positions at DowDuPont on 1 April 2018, remaining a director.[22] He remained chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company.[23] After his retirement, Liveris outlined plans to author several books and remain tangentially active with Dow. He also said he would join the board of Saudi Aramco.[24] He toured Dow facilities in 12 countries in June 2018 and also was at the opening of the Andrew N. Liveris Visitors and Heritage Center in Midland.[24]

Manufacturing council

In December 2016, Liveris was named by Donald Trump to lead his American Manufacturing Council.[25][26] Liveris said Trump created a climate that is conducive to business effectiveness for his company.[27] On 27 January 2017, Trump publicly announced the names of the 28 members to make up the council,[28] with Liveris heading the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.[29]

While Liveris was chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical, the company donated $1 million to Trump's presidential inauguration.[30] In 2017, the Associated Press reported that Dow was pressuring the Trump administration to ignore risk assessment studies about the harms of pesticides.[30]

Brisbane 2032 Olympic Organizing Committee

In 2022, Liveris was chosen to lead the organizing committee for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games in Brisbane. [31]

Writing

Liveris is the author of Make it in America: The Case for Re-Inventing the Economy (first published 2011, updated 2012).[32] Liveris argues that a healthy manufacturing sector is essential to creating jobs. Failing to support American manufacturing, as well as research and development, undermines America's potential to engage in new growth sectors such as clean energy and nanotechnology.[33][34]

Memberships

Liveris serves on the board of directors of the battery company Novonix,[35][36] and he is also on the board of IBM, Saudi Aramco, Worley, Lucid Motors (Chairman) and He is on the advisory board of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Teneo (a global CEO consulting and advisory firm), and NEOM (an initiative driven by Saudi Vision 2030). He is Chairman of the BlackRock Long Term Capital and a special advisor to the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. and a member of the executive committee of the Business Roundtable. Liveris is also a former president of the International Council of Chemical Associations.[37] He served as vice-chairman of The Business Council for 2011 and 2012, and as chairman for 2013 and 2014.[38][39][40][41] He is a member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and the American Australian Association.[42] Liveris is on the board of trustees for the United States Council for International Business and is a trustee of the California Institute of Technology. Liveris is a member of the Business Advisory Board for the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School. In April 2012 he became a member of the Special Olympics International board of directors.[43][44][45]

Liveris collaborated with Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, George David, chairman of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, and George Stamas, partner at Kirkland and Ellis LLP, to found The Hellenic Initiative (THI), a non-profit, non-governmental organization with the goal of encouraging entrepreneurship and job-creation investments in Greece.[46][47]

The $250 billion Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) appointed Andrew Liveris as a special adviser on matters of strategic importance, to assist the fund in efforts to boost the value of its portfolio, and ensure the contribution of PIF companies to Saudi Arabia's economic vision program 2030.[48] He has also joined the board of Australia's WorleyParsons.[49] WorleyParsons (WOR) chairman John Grill said Liveris' "breadth of global leadership experience" in the US and Middle East will enhance the abilities of its board.[50]

Awards and recognition

Personal

Liveris and his wife Paula have three adult children,[1] including Anthony Liveris,[66] founder of the data analytics firm Applecart.[67] His daughter, Alexandra, is a filmmaker.[68][69] As of 2018 Liveris and his wife travel between their homes in Australia[24] and Midland, Michigan.[2]

References
  1. White, Andrew (17 October 2014). "Andrew Liveris is the accidental CEO – of Dow Chemical". The Australian Business Review. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  2. Jacobs, Emma (26 May 2011). "20 questions: Andrew Liveris". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 March 2017. The Greek-Australian chairman and chief executive of Dow Chemical is based in Midland, Michigan
  3. Herald, The National. "THI Chairman and Industrialist Andrew Liveris on The Day After COVID-19". The National Herald. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  4. Stott, Edwina (29 June 2020). "Before coronavirus Paul's family business was struggling. Now it's booming". ABC News. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  5. "Andrew Liveris: Executive Profile & Biography – Businessweek". investing.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  6. "Dow's Most Recent Earnings Material".
  7. "Board of Directors". Lucid Motors. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  8. "Famous Greeks: Andrew Liveris, Chairman of Dow Chemical". Ellines.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  9. "#165 Andrew N Liveris – Forbes.com". forbes.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  10. "Applause: Liveris Receives Honorary Doctorate from University of Queensland; Named Alumnus of the Year". ASI: Adhesives & Sealants. 27 February 2006. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  11. "Andrew Liveris awarded Chemical Industry Medal". Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). 1 March 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  12. "Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute to Honor The Dow Chemical Company Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris with Yale Legend in Leadership Award". Yale School of Management. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  13. "Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris looks to win in specialties and commodity JVs in spite of economic turmoil".
  14. "William Stavropoulos to Retire as Chairman of Dow; Andrew Liveris Elected Chairman Effective April 1, 2006". The Dow Chemical Company. Retrieved 13 December 2005.
  15. Moore, Heidi N. (7 January 2009). "Parsing Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris". The Wall Street Journal.
  16. "Dow Awarded $2.16 Billion From Kuwait Over Aborted Deal". Archived from the original on 25 May 2012.
  17. "Dow integration process with Rohm and Haas continues in Middle East".
  18. Schneyer, Joshua; Grow, Brian (7 May 2015). "Dow Chemical's Australian CEO Andrew Liveris challenged on spending for years, documents show". The Sidney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  19. Gannon, Ed (22 March 2017). "Victorian gas ban 'nonsense', President Trump adviser Andrew Liveris says". Weekly Times Now.
  20. Kaskey, Jack (27 April 2017). "Dow CEO Liveris May Delay Retirement to Complete DuPont Merger". Bloomberg.
  21. "Andrew Liveris to retire from combined DowDuPont company mid-2018". Reuters. 11 May 2017.
  22. "Longtime Dow Chemical chief Andrew Liveris is stepping down from management at DowDuPont". USA Today.
  23. "Former Chairman & CEO Andrew Liveris".
  24. "Reinventing himself: Andrew Liveris looks back on decades leading Dow". Midland Daily News. 21 June 2018.
  25. Bender, Michael C. (10 December 2016). "Trump Names Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris to Lead Manufacturing Council". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  26. "Donald Trump appoints Dow Chemical chief Andrew Liveris as head of manufacturing". ABC News. 10 December 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  27. Diaz, Daniella (9 December 2016). "Trump announces Dow Chemical CEO as head of America Manufacturing Council". CNN. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  28. Etherington, Darrell (27 January 2017). "Trump's manufacturing council includes Elon Musk, Michael Dell and Mark Fields". TechCrunch. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  29. "Dow's Apprenticeship Program Gets Department of Labor Approval". Industry Week. 8 May 2017.
  30. Biesecker, Michael (20 April 2017). "AP Exclusive: Pesticide maker tries to kill risk study". AP NEWS. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  31. "Ex-Dow chief executive Liveris appointed Brisbane 2032 President". 10 April 2022.
  32. Liveris, Andrew (2012). Make it in America : the case for re-inventing the economy (Updated ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. ISBN 978-1118199626.
  33. Schneiderman, R.M. (20 June 2011). "A CEO's Defense of Government". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  34. Hagerty, James R. (25 January 2011). "Assembled Elsewhere". Wall Street Journal.
  35. "Reference at www.couriermail.com.au".
  36. "Reference at www.theaustralian.com.au".
  37. Pieper, James; Heumann, Jenny (28 September 2012). "BASF's Kurt Bock to Lead Global Chemical Industry Association; Dow's Andrew Liveris Completes Successful Two-Year Presidency". American Chemistry Council. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  38. "The Business Council, Official website, Executive Committee". Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  39. "Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris Elected Chairman, The Business Council dow.com, 19 October 2012". Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  40. Press Release: The Dow Chemical Company, "Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris Elected Chairman, The Business Council"., Yahoo!, 19 October 2012
  41. "Dow Chief To Head National Business Organization". Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2017. WSGW
  42. "American Australian Association".
  43. "Special Olympics Announces Additions to International Board of Directors". Special Olympics. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  44. "Business Advisory Board for the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School".
  45. "Special Olympics Announces Additions to International board of directors".
  46. Papapostolou, Anastasios (28 August 2015). "The Hellenic Initiative Announces 3rd Annual Banquet". Greek Reporter. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  47. "THI's Venture Fair Spotlights Greece's Young Entrepreneurs".
  48. "Saudi sovereign fund appoints former Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris as special adviser". 2 September 2018.
  49. "Reference at www.theaustralian.com.au".
  50. "Reference at www.theaustralian.com.au".
  51. "Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical Ranked No. 1 on ICIS Top 40 Power Players". Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  52. "ICIS Top 40 Power Players: Dow CEO Andrew Liveris takes top spot for 2012".
  53. "ICIS Top 40 Power Players Ranking for 2013 Revealed" (Press release).
  54. "Liveris to give Davis Lecture". Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  55. "Leadership Award Presented to Andrew Liveris".
  56. "2011 Distinguished Performance Awards Dinner".
  57. "Brazil's Petrobras wins "Company" and "Producer of the Year" Honors at Platts Global Energy Awards as "CEO" Goes to Dow Chemical's Liveris".
  58. "Leadership 100".
  59. "The American Hellenic Council honored Andrew Liveris, Rep. Shelley Berkley and Phedon Papamichael in 2012 Annual Awards Gala on 31 March in Los Angeles". Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  60. "China Development Forum". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  61. "Liveris Presides over China Development Forum as 2012 Co-Chair, Delivers Opening Remarks". Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  62. "True Leaders | Asia and beyond".
  63. "Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company, to be Awarded the 2013 International Palladium Medal". Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  64. "BENS to Honor Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, USA and Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman, President & CEO, Dow Chemical with Eisenhower Award".
  65. "Dow's Andrew Liveris awarded AO for services to international business". The Australian (subscription required)
  66. Xu, Lucy. "Diving into Entrepreneurship & VC with Anthony Liveris". The Port. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  67. David McCabe (13 August 2018). "Exclusive: Ari Emanuel's Endeavor backs data firm". Axios.
  68. "NOCTURNITY". IMDB. 2014.
  69. "NOCTURNITY". Tribeca Film Festival.
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