James Ray Fitterling is an American business executive. He is the Chairman and CEO of

Dow Inc. The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

, Fitterling serves as vice chair of the

National Association of Manufacturers The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices across the United States. It is the nation's largest manufacturing industrial trade association, representing 14,000 s ...

, and on the boards of the

American Chemistry Council American Chemistry Council (ACC), formerly known as the Manufacturing Chemists' Association (at its founding in 1872) and then as the Chemical Manufacturers' Association (from 1978 until 2000), is an industry trade association for American chemic ...

and the U.S.-China Business Council. The first board-appointed out CEO of a Fortune 100 company; he was ranked the world's top LGBT executive by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'' in 2018.

Early life and education

Jim Fitterling was born in 1962 in

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, where he spent his youth in a small farm town. He attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

, graduating from the school's

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

in 1983 with a BS in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

Career

1984-2004: Early roles with Dow

In 1984, Fitterling was hired by

The Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational corporation, multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three List of largest chemical producers, larges ...

. In 1998, he became CEO of Filmtec Corporation, a subsidiary of Dow. Also in 1998, he became global business director of Dow's liquid separations unit. He was named both

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of Dow Thailand and

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the SCC - Dow Group of joint venture companies in 2000. In 2002, Fitterling became CEO of The OPTIMAL Group, an affiliate company of both Dow and Petroliam Nasional Berhad. He began overseeing OPTIMAL's regions in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 2004.

2005-2015: Dow executive roles

He left OPTIMAL Group in 2005 to become business vice president of

polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including b ...

at Dow Chemical Corporation. He then served as Dow's president of basic plastics from 2007 until 2009. Soon, Fitterling was also a member of several committees at Dow, including the Executive Leadership Committee, the Management Committee and the Strategy Board. In 2012, Fitterling was given "executive oversight of feedstocks, performance plastics in Asia and Latin America." While still an executive vice president, in November 2012, Fitterling was appointed a member of Dow's newly formed executive committee. In 2014, Fitterling became

vice chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

of business operations for Dow. In October 2015, he was named

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

of Dow, which announced its merger with DuPont in December 2015. Fitterling then worked with Dow's CEO on reforming the new company into three separate entities, and to later be COO of the new Dow company.

2016-2019: Dow president and CEO

On February 2, 2016, Dow Chemical announced that Fitterling would be replacing

Andrew Liveris Andrew N. Liveris (born 5 May 1954) is an Australian former CEO and chairman of The Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan. Liveris has been a member of Dow's board of directors since February 2004, CEO since November 2004 and was elected as ...

as Dow president upon Liveris' retirement in 2017. In 2016, he was named Dow's president and chief operating officer, positions he still held into 2017. From September 2017 to March 2019, Fitterling also served as COO of the materials science division of

DowDuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

. On March 12, 2018, he was named the CEO of the new

, which was split, on April 1, 2019, from DowDuPont, as the new parent company of

."Company Overview of Dow Inc.", ''Bloomberg'', April 2, 2019.
/ref> In 2019, he became the first openly gay CEO of a large industrial company and the first board-appointed out CEO of a Fortune 100 company.

Appearances and awards

Fitterling has appeared in the media as a Dow representative. He was the keynote speaker at the 2015 Manufacturing Leadership Summit, and has spoken at the IHS World Petrochemical Conference in Houston, Texas. In 2017, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) awarded him the “Doing a World of Good” Medal. In 2018, he was given the College of Engineering Alumni Award from the Mizzou Alumni Association. Following a bout with cancer in celebration of

National Coming Out Day National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11, to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people ( the LGBT community, sometimes also called the queer community) in " coming out of the closet". Fi ...

, in 2014 Fitterling

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

to Dow's employees. He is an advocate for diversity in corporate and educational settings and, in 2016, was quoted by ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' on Dow's public campaign against anti-gay rights legislation in states such as

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Fitterling was ranked #73 on the Top 100 LGBT Leaders list published by ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' in 2015, ranking #28 the following year, #1 in 2018,"The Outstanding Lists 2018: LGBT+ leaders and allies", ''The Financial Times'', October 24, 2018.
/ref> and #3 in 2019. In March 2019, he was featured in the ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' article "How Dow Chemical Got Woke"."How Dow Chemical Got Woke", by Jeff Green, ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', March 20, 2019.
/ref>

Boards

Fitterling is vice chair of the

' board, as well as on the boards of the

and the U.S.-China Business Council. He is a trustee at the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation. He is also on the CEO Roundtable of the American Heart Association, and on the Dean's Engineering Advisory Council at the

. Fitterling was previously chairman at Univation Technologies LLC and on the boards of

TCF Financial Corporation TCF Financial Corporation was a bank holding company based in Detroit, Michigan. The current incarnation of the company was formed by a 2019 merger between the former TCF, which was established in 1923 in Wayzata, Minnesota, and the Michigan-b ...

and Sadara Chemical Company. He was also president of the board of the Midland Country Club in Michigan.

Personal life

Fitterling is a resident of

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Com ...

References

External links

Fitterling at Dow.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitterling, Jim Living people University of Missouri alumni People from Midland, Michigan 1962 births American chief executives of materials companies Directors of Dow Inc. Gay men LGBT businesspeople from the United States LGBT people from Michigan