Heinz Haller Named President of Dow Europe, Middle East and Africa; Retains Chief Commercial Officer Responsibilities

MIDLAND, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heinz Haller, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Dow, has been named executive vice president, president of Dow Europe, Middle East and Africa, and chief commercial officer. His new responsibilities will be effective August 1, 2012.

“Heinz has the drive, energy and mandate to take our geographic strategies and commercial capabilities to the next level, a vital component to truly becoming a customer driven growth company”

In this role, he will lead our geographic strategies in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as continue to be responsible for corporate Marketing & Sales and commercial new business growth activities, including key new joint ventures and subsidiaries including Dow Aksa, Dow Kokam and the Government Markets Business Unit.

He will also continue as a member of Dow AgroSciences Members Committee and Dow's new Olympics Business Unit will continue to report to him.

In addition, he will continue as a member of Dow's Executive Leadership Committee, the Business Operations Team and the Strategy Board.

In related leadership moves all effective August 1, 2012:

Jim Fitterling, executive vice president of Dow, and president, Feedstocks & Energy and Corporate Development, will assume executive oversight for Dow's presence in the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions.

Bill Weideman, executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer, will assume executive oversight for Dow AgroSciences.

Joe Harlan, president, Performance Materials and executive vice president of Dow, will join the Dow Corning Board of Directors replacing Haller.

“Heinz has the drive, energy and mandate to take our geographic strategies and commercial capabilities to the next level, a vital component to truly becoming a customer driven growth company,” said Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO. “Given the continued global economic volatility and uncertainty, we must not wait for the world to change; instead we must create our future growth and demand for our solutions and products around the world. These leadership changes will enable consistency and diligent progress on our transformational strategy.”

Haller joined Dow in 1980 as a sales representative in Horgen, Switzerland and developed his career in several marketing and commercial roles across many Dow businesses including Emulsion Polymers, Specialty Chemicals and Chlorinated Solvents.

In 1994, Haller left Dow and joined the chemical distribution company, Plüss-Staufer AG, as Managing Director, a position he held for five years before being appointed Chief Executive Officer of Red Bull Sauber AG and Sauber Petronas Engineering AG. In March 2002, he moved to Allianz Capital Partners GmbH as one of the company's Managing Directors and remained there for four years until he rejoined Dow. Haller returned to Dow in June 2006 and assumed an executive leadership role in a variety of areas including one in Performance Products. He was named to his current role in August 2010.

Haller holds a master's degree in business administration from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland and earned a certification in the advanced executive program from UCLA, Los Angeles, California.

About Dow

Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2011, Dow had annual sales of $60 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 197 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.