Out Leadership today announced that Jim Fitterling, Chief Executive Officer, Dow, has joined its Global Advisory Board.
Dow, the global materials science company, had sales of $49 billion in 2018. When the company was spun off from DowDuPont in April 2019, Fitterling became the third openly LGBT+ CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Dow’s materials credit Fitterling with playing “a key role in the Company’s transformation, from lower-margin, commodity businesses to one more deeply focused on higher-growth, consumer demand-driven markets that value innovation.” In 2018, he was named #1 in a list of the 100 most influential LGBT+ executives published by The Financial Times.
“The world of business has changed immensely since I started my career, and companies like Dow have come to understand why LGBT+ inclusion is a business performance issue,” said Fitterling. “But even though we’ve made a tremendous amount of progress, 50% of LGBT+ people in the United States are not out at work. That’s why I am proud to join the board of Out Leadership, an organization that’s making a real impact globally by helping CEOs and companies identify and realize the value that’s created when LGBT+ employees feel they belong.”
“I’m thrilled to welcome one of the most prominent openly LGBT+ CEOs in the world to our Global Advisory Board,” said Todd Sears, Founder and CEO of Out Leadership. “Jim isn’t just a transformational business leader driving strong results at Dow – he’s also an inspiration to every LGBT+ professional, proof positive that with hard work and dedication Out Leaders can scale the heights of the corporate ladder. We’re grateful that he’s agreed to help guide Out Leadership into 2020 and beyond.”
Fitterling joins 15 other influential LGBT+ and Ally global leaders who currently or have previously sat on Out Leadership’s Global Advisory Board, including:
- Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Goldman Sachs (Global Advisory Board Emeritus Member)
- Beth Brooke-Marciniak, Global Vice Chair, Public Policy, EY Global Limited
- Lord John Browne, Executive Chairman, L1 Energy, Former CEO, BP
- Gigi Chao, Executive Vice-Chairman, Cheuk Nang (Holdings) Ltd
- Irene Dorner, Former President and CEO, HSBC USA
- Brian L. Duffy, Chief Executive Officer, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
- Peter Grauer, Chairman, Bloomberg Inc.
- Rich Jeanneret, Vice Chair, East Region Managing Partner, EY
- Ken Mehlman, Global Head of Public Affairs, KKR
- Noel Quinn, Chief Executive, Global Commercial Banking, and Group Managing Director, HSBC
- Kathleen Sebelius, 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Governor of Kansas
- Lee Schreter, Former Chairperson of the Board, Littler Mendelson, P.C.
- Ashley Steel, Former Vice Chair, KPMG LLP
- Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, New York University School of Law