High-Tech Research Helps Firm Build On Chemical BaseDuPont Co. named Ellen J. Kullman to be its new chief executive and president Tuesday, making her one of the few women to rise to the top of the chemical industry and putting her among the handful of women running the nation's biggest companies.
A 20-year DuPont veteran, Ms. Kullman, 52 years old, helped expand the company from a chemical producer into a high-tech research business that also ventures into areas like biofuels and solar technology. The switch has helped insulate DuPont from some of the pressures faced by basic chemical companies as prices for oil and natural gas have shot up and competition from producers in developing countries has increased.
Ellen Kullman backed DuPont's move into high-tech research.
Ms. Kullman, who was widely expected to become CEO, said she will continue the company's current strategy, which emphasizes developing useful products from scientific breakthroughs. "The science creates value," she said in an interview. "That's the exciting part."
Ms. Kullman will succeed Charles O. Holliday Jr., 60, who will continue as chairman, though she is expected to eventually take that title, too. She will become president and join the board Oct. 1, and she will take over as chief executive at the beginning of 2009, the company said.
One reason the board picked Ms. Kullman unanimously, Mr. Holliday said in an interview, is her ability to make the complex -- and sometimes obscure -- chemical business relevant and understandable to investors and customers.
In recent years Ms. Kullman has run most of DuPont's major business units. The company's first-half earnings grew 18% from a year earlier despite the slump in the automotive and housing industries, which are two of DuPont's major clients.
A native of Wilmington, Del., where DuPont was founded 206 years ago, Ms. Kullman said she has had a keen interest in science and "figuring out how things work" since she was a young girl. She received a mechanical engineering degree from Tufts University, where she is now a trustee, and a master's degree in management from Northwestern University. She is also a director of General Motors Corp.
In 1988, after working for General Electric Co., Ms. Kullman became a youth marketing manager in DuPont's medical imaging business, and then moved on to run the division that produces Kevlar, the material used in body armor.
Running DuPont will be an honor, she said. "I'm not sure being a woman adds or detracts from it. My managing style is unique to me, and I'm just really looking forward to continuing to drive our company's strategy."
By: Ana Campoy
Wall Street Journal; September 24, 2008
