Jim Fitterling

James Ray Fitterling (born 1962) is an American business executive. He is the executive chairman and former president and CEO of Dow Inc.,

Early life and education Jim Fitterling was born in 1962 in Missouri, where he spent his youth in a small farm town. He attended the University of Missouri, graduating from the school's College of Engineering in 1983 with a BS in mechanical engineering. In 1998, he became CEO of Filmtec Corporation, a subsidiary of Dow. Also in 1998, he became global business director of Dow's liquid separations unit. Fitterling then worked with Dow's CEO on reforming the new company into three separate entities, and to later be COO of the new Dow company.

2016-2019: Dow president and CEO On February 2, 2016, Dow Chemical announced that Fitterling would be replacing Andrew Liveris as Dow president upon Liveris' retirement in 2017. In 2016, he was named Dow's president and chief operating officer, positions he still held into 2017. From September 2017 to March 2019, Fitterling also was COO of the materials science division of DowDuPont.

On March 12, 2018, he was named the CEO of the new Dow Inc., which was split, on April 1, 2019, from DowDuPont, as the new parent company of The Dow Chemical Company. In 2019, he became the first openly gay CEO of a large industrial company

Appearances and awards Fitterling has appeared in the media and has spoken at the IHS World Petrochemical Conference in Houston, Texas. In 2017, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) awarded him the “Doing a World of Good” Medal. in celebration of National Coming Out Day, in 2014 Fitterling came out to Dow's employees. He is an advocate for diversity in corporate and educational settings and, in 2016, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal on Dow's public campaign against anti-gay rights legislation in states such as North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia. Fitterling was ranked #73 on the Top 100 LGBT Leaders list published by The Financial Times in 2015, ranking #28 the following year, #1 in 2018, and #3 in 2019.

In July 2026, he was succeeded as CEO by Karen S. Carter and became executive chairman of Dow.

Boards Fitterling is vice chair of the National Association of Manufacturers' board, as well as on the boards of the American Chemistry Council and the U.S.-China Business Council. He is a trustee at the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation. He is also on the CEO Roundtable of the American Heart Association, and on the Dean's Engineering Advisory Council at the University of Missouri. Fitterling was previously chairman at Univation Technologies LLC and on the boards of TCF Financial Corporation