Dow names insider Karen Carter CEO as Fitterling moves to executive chair role

April 14 (Reuters) – Chemicals maker Dow named operations chief Karen Carter as its new CEO on Tuesday, handing the reins to a long-time insider as the company grapples with weak demand, restructuring and a sweeping overhaul of its global footprint.

Carter will take over as CEO on July 1, replacing Jim Fitterling, who will move into the role of executive chair.

Fitterling has helmed Dow since 2018, steering the company through its separation from DowDuPont in 2019 and a turbulent period marked by trade tensions, the COVID‑19 pandemic, and more recently, stubbornly weak economic conditions and geopolitical pressures.

Shares of the company fell 1.4% in premarket trading.

Carter takes over as CEO at a crucial time for the company. Earlier this year, Dow decided to slash about 4,500 jobs, or 13% of its total workforce, under a sweeping restructuring aimed at boosting profitability by at least $2 billion, while projecting first-quarter revenue below expectations on weak demand.

The Michigan-based company, which began a strategic review of some European assets in 2024, has also been re-evaluating its non-core assets across its global portfolio, including power and steam production and pipelines.

Last year, Dow said it would shut down three upstream plants in Europe and cut around 800 jobs, a process expected to begin in mid-2026 and be completed by the end of 2027, in response to structural challenges in the region.

DowDuPont was formed in 2017 after the merger of DuPont and Dow Chemical. Two years later, it spun off its chemical business as Dow and the agribusiness division into Corteva , with DuPont remaining on as the company it is today.

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)