DowDuPont announced two additional members of the future board of directors of Corteva Agriscience. They are Klaus Engel, former CEO of Evonik Industries, and Rebecca Liebert, who recently became senior vice president, automotive coatings at PPG after more than a decade in leadership roles at Honeywell International. With these additions, Corteva Agriscience has 11 members on its future Board.
Greg Page, non-executive chairman-elect of Corteva Agriscience and retired chairman and CEO of Cargill Inc., says, “Continuing to build a highly qualified board, with the right mix of diverse perspectives and experience, is a critical priority as we work with Corteva Agriscience’s leadership to position it to drive sustainable growth as a global leader in agriculture. With the deep expertise in science-based innovation and effective leadership of complex global businesses that Klaus Engel and Rebecca Liebert bring, our Board is even stronger and better positioned to work with management to oversee the successful execution of Corteva Agriscience’s strategy and deliver value for shareholders now and into the future.”
“We’re delighted Klaus Engel and Rebecca Liebert are joining the future Corteva board,” says Jim Collins, Chief Executive Officer-elect of Corteva Agriscience. “Their strong backgrounds speak for themselves regarding their ability to advise management as we prepare to launch this pure-play agriculture company with its unique route to market and industry-leading new product pipeline.”
DowDuPont remains on track to separate the Materials Science Division (Dow) on April 1, 2019, and the Agriculture (Corteva Agriscience) and Specialty Products (DuPont) Divisions on June 1, 2019.
In addition to Page, Engel and Liebert, Corteva Agriscience’s future Board of Directors includes: Jim Collins, COO of the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont and CEO-elect of Corteva Agriscience; Edward D. Breen, CEO of DowDuPont; Lamberto Andreotti, former Chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb; Robert A. Brown, President of Boston University; Michael O. Johanns, retired U.S. Senator and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture; Lois D. Juliber, former Vice Chairman of Colgate-Palmolive Company; Lee M. Thomas, former Chairman and CEO of Rayonier Inc.; and Patrick J. Ward, CFO of Cummins Inc.
Biographies of New Directors
Klaus Engel, Ph.D., is the former CEO of Evonik Industries AG, a specialty chemical manufacturer, from 2009 to 2017, and previously was CEO of Degussa AG, a predecessor to Evonik, from 2006 to 2009. Prior to that, Dr. Engel was CEO of Brenntag AG/ Mülheim, a global chemical distribution company, since 2001. Earlier in his career, he held various senior positions in R&D, production, marketing and strategy planning at Chemische Werke Hüls/Marl, VEBA AG, Düsseldorf and Stinnes AG and Mülheim an der Ruhr. Dr. Engel has been a member of the supervisory board of National-Bank, Essen since 2011 and joined the advisory board of Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany in 2018. He is honorary professor at University of Duisburg/Essen and Member of the Board of trustees of Bonner Akademie für angewandte Politik at University of Bonn.
Rebecca B. Liebert is senior vice president, automotive coatings at PPG, a publicly traded global manufacturer of paints, coatings and specialty materials. She joined PPG in 2018, following a decade at Honeywell in senior roles including most recently serving as President and CEO of Honeywell UOP, which develops technology for the petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical production, and major manufacturing industries. She started her career at Honeywell in the Electronic Materials business and moved to UOP in 2012. Earlier, she spent two years at Alcoa as President of Reynolds Food Packaging and started her career at Nova Chemicals.
