Andrew Nicholas Liveris (born May 5, 1954) is the Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company. He has been a member of Dow’s board of directors since February 2004, CEO since November 2004, and was elected Chairman of the Board starting April 1, 2006. Liveris succeeded William S. Stavropoulos as CEO in 2004, after serving as Chief Operating Officer. He also served as Co-Chair of President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership in the United States. In January 2014, Liveris was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for “services to international business.” He has also received honorary doctorates from the University of Queensland and Michigan State University.
Liveris was born into a Greek immigrant family in Darwin, Australia. His family arrived in Darwin aboard a merchant ship in 1915. He attended Darwin High School until 1974, when Cyclone Tracy struck and destroyed the family’s construction business. Liveris’ father passed away when he was 15 years old, and his uncle took over the care of the family.
He then moved to Brisbane to continue his education at Brisbane State High School.
Liveris earned a bachelor’s degree with first-class honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland (UQ). His professor at UQ, Don Nicklin, encouraged him early on to seek employment with American companies.
His career at Dow began in 1976 in Melbourne, Australia, as a recent college graduate. After several promotions, he helped lead business operations across Asia-Pacific from Hong Kong and ultimately became General Manager of Dow Thailand. In 1992, following another promotion, Liveris relocated to the United States, where he remained except for a three-year period serving as President of Dow Chemical Pacific. In March 2016, Liveris presented a straightforward three-step plan to boost the Australian economy during a speech at the WestBusiness Leadership Matters event in Perth.
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