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Frank Popoff, retired Dow Chemical CEO, named new
Poling Chair at IU
Aug. 22, 2001
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Frank P. Popoff, former chief executive officer and
chairman of Dow Chemical Co., has been appointed the fourth Harold A. "Red"
Poling Chair of Business and Government in Indiana University's Kelley School of
Business and will begin teaching students on campus this fall.
Popoff, who led the global, research-based chemical company as its chairman,
president and chief executive officer, will interact with the Kelley School's
students and faculty in Bloomington and Indianapolis. He retired from Dow
Chemical in November 2000, and he continues to hold the position of director
emeritus for life at the Midland, Mich.,-based company.
Kelley School Dean Dan Dalton said that IU students will benefit from
Popoff's experience as Dow's leader during one of the most successful periods in
its history.
"We are proud to have Mr. Popoff on the Kelley team," Dalton said. "He is a
legendary CEO and a person of impeccable integrity. The experience and insight
that he will bring to our undergraduate and graduate classrooms is incalculable.
He will make us better in so many ways."
The Poling Chair of Business and Government was established in 1993 by
Poling, a Kelley School alumnus and the former chairman and chief executive
officer of Ford Motor Co., with the purpose of fostering "better understanding
of the critical interactions between private business and government in matters
of public policy, enterprise competitiveness and economic growth." The gift also
was used to create the Harold A. "Red" Poling Chair in Strategic Management,
which is held by Dalton.
Popoff, who earned at IU a bachelor of science degree in chemistry in 1957
and a master of business administration degree in 1959, enjoyed a career that
spanned four decades. He joined Dow in 1959, starting in technical service and
development and then moving through sales, marketing, business management and
other positions in the United States and Europe. He was named Dow's president,
chief operating officer and then CEO in 1987, and chairman of the board in 1992.
He retired as CEO on his 65th birthday in 1995 and continued to serve the
company as chairman of the board until November 2000.
During his tenure as CEO, Popoff twice received the first-place award for CEO
excellence from Financial World magazine. In 1989, the Queen of The
Netherlands bestowed on him the title of Knight Commander in the Order Oranje-Nassau.
Popoff received the Leadership Award from the United States Council for
International Business in 1992 and the Palladium Medal Award in 1994.
Popoff has been recognized internationally as a leading proponent of
sustainable development, which seeks to reconcile economic growth with
environmental protection. In 1991, he was appointed by President George H.W.
Bush to the President's Commission on Environmental Quality and as chairman of
the Committee on International Cooperation. Popoff also received the René DuBos
Environmental Award in 1993 for his outstanding contribution toward developing
significant strategies for dealing with the social and humanistic aspects of
environmental problems.
Popoff also is a director of American Express Co., Qwest Communications
International Inc., United Technologies Corp. and Chemical Financial Corp. He
serves on the boards of the Michigan Molecular Institute, the Kelley School of
Business Dean's Advisory Council, the National Volunteer Center, and the Herbert
H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation.
He is director emeritus of the IU Foundation. Popoff is a past chairman of
the Chemical Manufacturers Association and a member of the Business Council for
Sustainable Development, The Business Council, the Council for Competitiveness
and the American Chemical Society.
Past Poling Chairs have been Samuel K. Skinner, former U.S. Secretary of
Transportation and chief of staff to former President George H.W. Bush; Evan
Bayh, who taught in the Kelley School after serving two terms as Indiana's
governor and prior to his election to the U.S. Senate; and Randall L. Tobias,
chairman emeritus of Eli Lilly and Co. and former vice chairman of AT&T Corp.
Poling, Ford's chief executive in 1985-1994, earned an MBA degree at IU in
1951 and today is a member of the Kelley School's Dean's Advisory Council. He
received IU's Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1990 and was inducted into
the school's Academy of Alumni Fellows.
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu)