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 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.
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. 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.
Business career
Liveris began his career at Dow in 1976 in Melbourne, Australia. 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.
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 election to chairman of the board became effective 1 April 2006.
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.
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.
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.
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.