Andrew N Liveris

Early life and education

Liveris was born in Darwin, Australia. He is proud of being the grandson of a Greek immigrant and identifies strongly with his Greek heritage. 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.

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

Transforming Dow

Liveris began his career at Dow in 1976 in Melbourne, Australia. He spent much of his career in Asia before coming 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.

Liveris joined Dow's Board of Directors in February 2004, becoming CEO in November 2004. 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 customised 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 specialised areas of the business as cited above. The formation of joint ventures had the further virtue of assuring a low-cost supply of feedstocks 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).

His election to Chairman of the Board became effective 1 April 2006. In 2008, under Liveris' leadership as CEO, Dow was ranked 13th on Corporate Responsibility Officer (CRO) Magazine's list of top 100 best corporate citizens.

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.

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.

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". The following quarter Dow cut its dividend by 65%. In a press release announcing the quarterly dividend (12 February 2009) Dow's board of directors stated its decision was based on "a confluence of factors, including uncertainty in the credit markets, unprecedented lower demand for chemical products, the ongoing global recession and pending business issues."

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.

Dow growth and first federal appointments

In March 2010, Liveris reported a first quarter 48.9% sales increase at Dow Chemical. He attributed his success to accelerated growth in performance business, including advanced polymers in the textile, health care, electronic, and agricultural industries.

Liveris has continued to form joint ventures for the basics business, including an initiative in chlor-alkali with the Mitsui Group in Japan as a partner. The recovery plan has been accompanied by a sixfold recovery in the share price.

An advocate for the importance of manufacturing to the long-term health of a nation's economy, Liveris was appointed in July 2010 to the President's Export Council by President Barack Obama. The Council advises the government on increasing exports, to foster job creation and support U.S. economic growth.

In June 2011, Liveris was named an inaugural co-chair (with Susan Hockfield) of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), formed by President Obama. The AMP was a private sector task force including government, industry, and academic leaders, formed "to identify the most pressing challenges and transformative opportunities to improve the technologies, processes and products across multiple manufacturing industries" and advise the U.S. government.

Later time as CEO, audit controversy

In 2015, concerns were raised by Dow's internal auditing department about Liveris's personal spending. 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. Also, the head of the auditing department retracted the annual auditing reports for multiple years due to concerns for inaccurate reporting to SEC and shareholders.

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.

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. In May, Dow said that Liveris would retire from the DowDuPont company mid-2018, serving as executive chairman until between April and July 2018.

Manufacturing council

In December 2016, Liveris was named by Donald Trump to lead his American Manufacturing Council. Liveris said Trump created a climate that is condusive to business effectiveness for his company.

On 27 January 2017, Trump publicly announced the names of the 28 members to make up the council, with Liveris heading the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative.

Discussing tax, trade, and cutting regulations on businesses, in January 2017 Liveris and other business figures met with Donald Trump. Liveris and the other executives were tasked with returning to the White House a month later to suggest how to increase US manufacturing, reporting to Wilbur Ross. Liveris said it was "an exciting moment for Dow, and, frankly, the country," as he believed Trump would help promote "fair trade."

In February 2017, Liveris organized a manufacturing working group to meet with Trump, which included executives from major companies to talk about job growth and economic policies. The council met with Trump on 23 February 2017. Speaking for the council on that day, Liveris said the 24 CEOs were "encouraged by [Trump administration] pro-business policies" The CEOs present that day represented companies that employ 2 million.

Also in February 2017, Liveris was standing next to Trump when the executive order "mandating the creation of task forces at federal agencies to roll back government regulations" was signed. Trump afterwards gave him the pen.

Make it in America

Liveris is the author of Make it in America : the case for re-inventing the economy (first published 2011, updated 2012) which presents a comprehensive set of practical policy solutions and business strategies. It builds upon ideas presented in the Dow Chemical Company's 'Advanced Manufacturing Plan', announced in June 2010. 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. Instead, other nations are establishing themselves in these areas. Liveris outlines an agenda that he believes will establish a sustainable economic model for the United States. Make It in America was named No. 9 on the Inc./800-CEO-READ Business book best-seller list for 2011.

Memberships

Liveris serves on the board of directors of IBM and is a member of the executive committee of the Business Roundtable. Liveris is also a former president of the International Council of Chemical Associations. He served as Vice-Chairman of The Business Council for 2011 and 2012, and as chairman for 2013 and 2014. He is a member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and the American Australian Association.

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.

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 organisation with the goal of encouraging entrepreneurship and job-creation investments in Greece.

Awards and recognition

Personal

Liveris and his wife Paula have three adult children. The couple reside in Midland, Michigan.