Capping the spinoff of the newly independent Dow Chemical Company from DowDupontInc., Jim Fitterling has been named the first openly LGBT+ CEO of a large industrial company. He’s just second openly LGBT+ CEO of a major public company, after Apple’s Tim Cook.
Bloomberg Businessweek profiled Fitterling, focusing on Dow’s somewhat improbable record on workplace equality. Dow has scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index every year since 2005, despite being headquartered in staunchly conservative Midland, Michigan.
“Maybe we’re in a state where an LGBT person doesn’t feel safe because of some of the state laws, but when they come to work here, they need to feel safe,” Fitterling said in the interview.
Fitterling’s rise is just one example of Dow’s progressive attitudes, and he prefers not to be thought of simply as the “gay CEO.”
Fitterling will speak at Out Leadership’s 2019 U.S. Summit.
Read more at Bloomberg Businessweek.