Former Executive Vice President, Manufacturing & Engineering, The Dow Chemical Company
Carol Williams retired in early 2015 after serving as a special advisor to the Chief Executive Officer at Dow Chemical Company, a diversified chemical company headquartered in Midland, Michigan. Prior to her special advisor role, she served as Dow’s executive vice president of Manufacturing and Engineering, Supply Chain and Environmental, Health and Safety Operations.
Carol joined Dow in 1980, starting as an engineer in research and development for plastic films and foams in the Granville Research Center. Throughout her 34-year history at Dow, she assumed increasingly more significant management positions in research and development before moving into numerous executive leadership positions within the company.
Carol was named senior vice president of Basic Chemicals in 2009 and president of Chemicals and Energy in 2010. She accepted her role as executive vice president of Manufacturing & Engineering in 2011. Carol was named special advisor to Dow’s chairman and CEO in 2014. She joined the Board of Owens Illinois-a leading glass manufacturing company in 2014, and Olin Corporation in 2015. Carol was named Chairman of the Board, Owens Illinois in 2016. She is also a member of the Olin Chemical Board of Directors.
Professionally, Carol has served on the United States Department of Commerce Manufacturing Council, and on the board of directors for Sadara, Dow-Mitsui Chlor-Alkali LLC., and Zep Inc. She served on the Board of Trustees for Carnegie Mellon University until 2016, and continues to serve as an advisory board member for the Engineering Department and a member of the Energy Futures Institute Presidential Consultation Committee. Carol is a member of the Society of Women Engineers and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She has received a Woman of the Year Award from the National Association of Professional Women and received a Junior Achievement Mid-Michigan Laureate Award. In 2009, she was selected as an Alumnae of the Year at Carnegie Mellon University.
Carol earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and completed Executive Education at Indiana University.
*All biographical information is only current up to the date of the award.
