Dow’s CFO on retiring from the company after 33 years—and how he adheres to the strategy of ‘forget, borrow, learn’
Good morning.
After 33 years at the multinational chemical producer Dow, most recently serving as president and CFO, Howard Ungerleider is retiring from the company. But he has a second act in mind.
“I have a lot of gas in my tank,” Ungerleider, who has been in the CFO role for almost 10 years, tells me. “I have a lot of energy. I really want to continue my leadership journey.” That may even include taking on a chief executive position. And CFOs are increasingly viewed by companies as potential CEOs.
“I really want to make an impact and grow long-term value,” he says, “whether that's as a public company CEO, whether that's private equity, whether that's some board service. I would say those are the three areas where I'm having exploratory conversations. Then in 2024, I'll start to make some decisions.”
But right now, Ungerleider is very focused on finishing the year at Dow, and “transferring as much knowledge as I possibly can to my successor, Jeff Tate,” he says. “He’s a phenomenal leader. I've known him for 25 years.” Tate, who began his tenure as CFO on Nov. 1, rejoins Dow following his role as EVP and CFO of Leggett & Platt from 2019-2023. He first joined Dow in 1992.
The CEO’s copilot
Dow (No. 75 on the Fortune 500) earned $56.9 billion in revenue in 2022, a 3.5% increase from 2021. The company is led by Jim Fitterling, chair and CEO. As a CFO, Ungerleider shares his perspective on strategic partnership.
“There's been a lot of evolution in the CFO role over the last 30-plus years,” Ungerleider explains. “If I rewind to the ‘90s, I would say most CFOs came from the treasury function.” Then, in the early 2000s with major business disruptions such as the Enron collapse, it became the era of controllers, and the CFO role became much more compliance focused, he says. “But I think the ‘08-’09 financial crisis really developed the need for the CFO to be the copilot to the CEO,” Ungerleider says. And as finance chief, he's had to lead through transformation.
In 2017, Dow Chemical and DuPont combined, and Ungerleider also served as CFO of DowDuPont. But, he was then elected president in March 2018, to prepare for the subsequent separation of the company and creation of Dow Inc. As both CFO and president, Ungerleider was in the position of copilot to Fitterling, he says.
“We had to work together between the legacy Dow people and the legacy DuPont people to create three essentially brand new companies,” Ungerleider says. “It was one of many pivotal moments in my career.”
A part of the strategy was using a concept in business transformation called “forget, borrow, and learn,” he says. “We asked ourselves, what do we want to forget about the old? What do we want to borrow and take with us from the old into the new company, and then what new skills or capabilities do we need to learn?” he explains.
In 2019, DowDuPont was split into three separate public companies— Dow, DuPont de Nemours, and Corteva. This was "a huge and highly complex transaction that transformed the chemical industry landscape," according to McKinsey.
During his time at Dow, Ungerleider’s career has also spanned functional and enterprise-level leadership roles globally, including president of Dow's Performance Plastics Division, VP of investor relations. “I have skills and capabilities, and I work hard, but people took chances on me early in my career,” Ungerleider says.
He’s now a mentor and offers this piece of advice for career longevity: “Learn and master a new area or a new skill.”
“I did not start out as a finance person,” Ungerleider explains. “I started out in sales and marketing, asset management, and supply chain. And I did get an MBA at UCLA while I was working for Dow in California. But my first real finance role was investor relations. I’ve probably had about nine very, very different experiences inside Dow."
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
