The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and Dow Corning Corp. announced that Robert D. (Bob) Hansen, chairman, chief executive officer and president, has announced his intention to retire from Dow Corning Corp. upon the completion of Dow’s ownership restructure transaction with Corning, Inc., which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016. Hansen will stay with the company for several months, helping to ensure a smooth ownership transition for the Dow Corning Silicones business.
Hansen has 34 years of service with Dow Corning. After joining the company in 1982, he held a variety of finance, commercial, business leadership and geographic leadership roles, including president of Dow Corning’s operations in Europe. Hansen was named president in 2010, and chief executive officer in 2011. He was elected chairman of the board in 2013.
“For more than three decades, Bob has worked tirelessly to advance the future of Dow Corning,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. “His leadership and strategic direction has positioned Dow Corning well for this next phase of growth and success.”
In addition to his current responsibilities, Dow has named Howard Ungerleider, vice chairman and chief financial officer of Dow as chairman of Dow Corning, and Mauro Gregorio, currently vice president leading the Dow Corning integration, as chief executive officer of Dow Corning.
Gregorio brings more than 30 years of market and international experience to Dow Corning. He has worked across a number of downstream, market facing businesses on three continents, including Engineering Plastics, where he led a team that built the innovation pipeline for Dow’s participation in the automotive industry and with electronics OEMs; Performance Plastics, where he drove business development efforts with global brand owners in Dow’s Hygiene and Medical and Packaging businesses; and in Dow’s Energy portfolio, where he was instrumental in delivering innovative solutions that substantially improved Dow’s sustainability results. Gregorio also has functional expertise spanning commercial, supply chain, technical service and new business development. Most recently, Gregorio led Dow’s Elastomers and Electrical and Telecommunications portfolio along with the Energy and Feedstocks business, before being named to lead the Dow Corning transaction at the end of 2015.
Until the close of the transaction, Hansen, Ungerleider and Gregorio will maintain their current roles and responsibilities.