Dow Announces New Organization and Leaders for Businesses and Functions

The organization change consolidates a number of businesses and functions and leverages strengths and expertise across the company in alignment with the new business portfolio structure, announced in December 2003.

"This is a logical step in our drive to accelerate the implementation of our overall strategy to maximize shareholder value," said Dow Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, William S. Stavropoulos. "The new organization will enable us to further focus on speed, discipline and accountability for delivering results," he said.

Andrew N. Liveris, president and chief operating officer, said the streamlined organization will not only reduce structure, but will increase leveraging on value-creating activities. In addition, it will position the company to adjust to major changes occurring in the chemical industry, including higher feedstock costs and shifting patterns of geographic growth.

"Dow will now be enabled to do two things." Liveris said, "Number one: operate our businesses more effectively as we improve our products and services to our customers; and two: identify the nature of each of our businesses and invest accordingly. It also enables us to build upon our strong positions in a number of areas, including both China and the Middle East," Liveris said. .

"We remain an integrated chemical company," Stavropoulos said, "preferentially investing in higher growth, less cyclical Performance businesses as well as in our franchise Basics businesses. Our new organization enables us to build upon our strengths, and retain our focus on growing earnings and maintaining a healthy cash flow."

I. Chemicals and Plastics "Portfolio Team" Named

Dow President and COO Andrew Liveris has named the Chemicals and Plastics Portfolio Team to define Dow's immediate priorities, select the next level of the organization, and be accountable for the results of the chemicals and plastics businesses. This team includes Phil Cook, senior vice president of Thermosets and Performance Chemicals; Mike Gambrell, senior vice president of Chemicals and Intermediates; Romeo Kreinberg, senior vice president of Plastics; Gary Veurink, corporate vice president Manufacturing & Engineering; and Dave Kepler, corporate vice president, Shared Services. The Portfolio Team has been working with the Office of the Chief Executive to assess and refine Dow's strategy. Comprising this group are J. Pedro Reinhard, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Arnold A. Allemang, Executive Vice President; Liveris and Stavropoulos.

II. Global Business Leadership Roles

Reporting to Phil Cook, senior vice president of Performance Chemicals and Thermosets:

- Specialty Chemicals, Pam Butcher, business vice president.

- Specialty Polymers, Peter Davies, business vice president.

- Polyurethanes and Systems, Pat Dawson, business vice president.

- Epoxy Products and Intermediates, Patrick Ho, business vice president.

- Dow Latex, Horacio Percossi, business vice president.

- Licensing, John Yimoyines, business vice president.

Reporting to Mike Gambrell, senior vice president of Chemicals and Intermediates:

- Calcium Chloride, Bill Berrett, general manager.

- Acrylics, Solvents and Intermediates, Ted Cosse, business vice president.

- PO/PG, Earl Shipp, business director.

- Chlorinated Organics, Jim Varilek, business director.

- Chlor-Vinyl - Mike Gambrell will serve as business vice president.

Reporting to Romeo Kreinberg, senior vice president of Plastics:

- Specialty Plastics/New Business Development, Julie Fasone-Holder, business vice president.

- Dow Automotive, George Hamilton, business vice president.

- Building and Construction, Kostas Katsoglou, business vice president.

- Polypropylene/Polystyrene/ABS/ Polycarbonate and - Compounding Products, Juan Luciano, business vice president.

- PET/PTA, Flavio Terruzzi, business director.

- Polyethylene - Romeo Kreinberg will serve as business vice president.

- High Density/Low Density Polyethylene, Chris Gann, business director.

- Solution Polyethylene, Roger Schwartz, business director.

The organization reporting to Theo Walthie, vice president of Hydrocarbons and Energy, is unchanged.

George Biltz named business vice president of Dow Ventures, reporting to Liveris. Dow Ventures will focus on growth and new business development, and includes Dowpharma, Pharmaceutical Technologies, Industrial Biotech, Advanced Electronic Materials, the Growth Center and other growth projects.

III. New Geographic Model Unveiled for Greater China

Luciano Respini continues in his role as President, Dow Europe, Chairman of the Global Geographic Council, and Corporate Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Additionally, following Patrick Ho's appointment as business vice president for Epoxy Products and Intermediates, all other country managers in the Asia-Pacific region will also report to Respini until the regional leadership structure has been reviewed.

President Named for Dow Greater China

Specific to Greater China, Jim McIlvenny, business vice president of Specialty Polymers, has been named president of Dow Greater China. He will relocate to Shanghai and will report to Luciano Respini, chairman of Dow's Geographic Council, vice president of Marketing and Sales, and President of Dow Europe. Dow Greater China comprises China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan.

"To grow our business in places of enormous potential like China, we require an organizational model which provides a stronger geographic structure, dedicated leadership and a region-specific growth strategy," says Andrew Liveris, president and chief operating officer.

McIlvenny joined Dow in Australia in 1982 and has held a number of positions in Asia-Pacific and the U.S. in the areas of technical service, sales, marketing and business leadership. Prior to his role as business vice president for Specialty Polymers, he was president and CEO of Hampshire Chemical Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company.

IV. Shared Services Leadership Changes

Dave Kepler has been named corporate vice president, Shared Services.

His responsibilities include Customer Service, Information Systems, Purchasing, Six Sigma and Work Process Expertise Centers, and Supply Chain. He continues to report to Andrew Liveris. Reporting to Kepler are:

- Customer Service, eBusiness and Inquiry Management (Customer Information Group), Darrell Zavitz, global director.

- Purchasing, Carol Dudley, vice president.

- Six Sigma and Work Processes, Mike Costa, corporate director.

- Kepler will remain Chief Information Officer and will also serve as vice president of Supply Chain.

V. New Senior Manufacturing Leaders Named for Businesses; Veurink to succeed Allemang

"The new Manufacturing and Engineering (M&E) organization will be aligned to support the businesses in order to improve productivity and create value growth," said Andrew Liveris, Dow president and chief operating officer. "The senior Manufacturing and Engineering leader in each business portfolio will work with Arnold Allemang, executive vice president of Operations, and the senior vice presidents to design an effective M&E organization aligned with each business strategy."

The following people have been named M&E leaders in the businesses and will help the senior vice presidents design the new M&E organization to support their businesses.

- John Cavanagh, vice president, M&E for the Performance Chemicals and Thermosets portfolio.

- Ken Hasenbeck, vice president, M&E for the Plastics portfolio.

- Gary Veurink, vice president, M&E for the Chemicals and Intermediates portfolio. He also will serve as M&E vice president for the Acrylics, Solvents and Intermediates business.

Gary Veurink has been named to succeed Arnold Allemang as corporate vice president, Manufacturing and Engineering. The transition will occur at the end of this year. Veurink will provide leadership for M&E in the chemicals and plastics businesses. In addition, he retains his role as site leader for Michigan Operations.

"Arnold Allemang has led the M&E function since 1995, delivering dramatic improvements in productivity, empowerment and Environment, Health & Safety results," said Liveris. "To ensure that Dow builds on that success for the future, Arnold will work closely with Gary Veurink and the other M&E leaders over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition."

VI. Upcoming Changes in R&D and Other Functions

Additional organizational changes, including Research & Development, will be announced in coming weeks