Charles O. Holliday, Jr. to Continue as Chairman During Transition
WILMINGTON, Del., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DuPont (NYSE: DD)
today announced that its board of directors has elected Ellen J. Kullman,
52, president and a director of the company effective Oct. 1 and chief
executive officer effective Jan. 1, 2009. Charles O. Holliday, Jr., 60,
chairman and CEO, will serve as chairman of DuPont and as a member of the
board until Kullman's expected succession as chairman.
"During the past 10 years, I have had the unique privilege of leading
DuPont's transformation to a market-driven science company that leads the
way in solving some of the most difficult and pressing human needs in a
resource-constrained world," Holliday said. "Having transformed the
company, increased our profitability and returns, and developed a talented
and strong next generation of leaders, now is the right time to make a
seamless transition to new leadership.
"Ellen is ready to lead DuPont's market-driven strategy for faster
growth," Holliday added. "By appointing Ellen now as president, she will
define DuPont's detailed 2009 execution plans that will make a solid
advance toward achieving our 2010 accelerated growth goals."
Kullman is the 19th executive to lead the company in DuPont's 206-year
history. Since June 2006, she has served as an executive vice president and
a member of the company's office of the chief executive, with
responsibility for four of DuPont's five business segments and its
Marketing & Sales and Environmental Sustainability functions. From February
2002 to June 2006 as group vice president of the then-newly formed DuPont
Safety & Protection segment, Kullman led revenue growth from $3.5 billion
to $5.5 billion. She joined the company in 1988 from General Electric.
"Ellen's strong track record, market focus and leadership skills were
the basis for the board's decision that she is the right person to lead our
exceptionally talented management team and 60,000-strong global work force
into DuPont's bright future," Holliday said. "Ellen built what has become
our highest-earning business segment, Safety & Protection, by assuring that
we harnessed the power of our science to meet customer needs. She has
thrived in DuPont's transformation to a market-driven science company, she
has been an important force in linking our science to our customers' needs,
and she has been instrumental to our strong emerging markets expansion."
"I am excited to partner with Ellen as chairman through what I expect
will be a very smooth and relatively brief transition," Holliday added. "I
look forward to watching in the years ahead as DuPont prospers while
addressing critical world needs such as improving agriculture productivity,
providing alternative energy sources, and protecting people and
structures."
Holliday, a 38-year DuPont veteran, has led the company as CEO since
February 1998. During his 10-year tenure:
-- DuPont completed over $60 billion in strategic transactions that
transformed it to a value-added, science-based products and services
company. Since completing these transactions in 2004, pre-tax operating
margin has improved 2 percentage points and return on investors' capital
has increased 5 percentage points and earnings per share has grown by an
annual rate of 11 percent.
-- DuPont introduced its newest technology platform, Applied
BioSciences, to focus on commercialization of renewably sourced
BioMaterials, BioFuels, BioSpecialties, and BioMedical solutions for an
energy- and resource-constrained world.
-- In 2007, DuPont sales from new products accounted for 36 percent of
the company's sales, up from 24 percent in 2001. New product sales grew
more than $5 billion over five years, with more than $10 billion of sales
from products introduced in the last five years.
-- Since November 2005, DuPont delivered $1 billion in fixed cost
productivity savings, and repurchased $5 billion, or 12 percent, of its
outstanding common stock.
-- Holliday introduced to industry the goal of "sustainable growth,"
leading DuPont in building sustainability as central to its total value
proposition and fully integrated into business models. Now as a globally
recognized leader, DuPont has built sustainability into its products and
operations -- impacting customers, value chains and consumers while also
dramatically reducing the company's environmental footprint.
-- DuPont further demonstrated its confidence that it is positioned for
higher growth by adopting earlier this year a new peer group of global high
technology companies against which its management and board will benchmark
performance. The new peer group generates more than double the earnings
growth rate compared to DuPont's prior peer group.
During 2008, DuPont has continued to execute on its sustainable growth
strategy and on its plans to achieve its targeted 2010 financial goals.
Despite historically high commodity prices and difficult U.S. markets,
DuPont's positioning as a market-driven science company enabled it to
achieve record earnings for the first half of 2008 on the strength of its
Agriculture & Nutrition segment and its growth in emerging markets.
"I am fortunate to have been able to work at DuPont and join so many
dedicated people in making a contribution to the company and to the people
and communities we serve around the world," Holliday said. "I have loved
leading DuPont. Now is the time for a new generation of talented leadership
to advance the company forward on its mission of sustainable growth."
Kullman added, "I am honored to have been selected by the board of
directors to lead DuPont into its next phase of accelerated growth. We have
a renowned science capability, a rich pipeline of new products, the right
productivity mindset and terrific market opportunities. We will build on
our momentum and drive earnings growth by continuing on our mission to
solve challenging global problems and achieve our financial commitments,
including our 2010 growth goals. I look forward to working with the
exceptional people of DuPont to serve our customers and communities and to
reward our shareholders."
Conference Call
At 9 a.m. (ET) today, the company will host a brief conference call
with investors. For your planning purposes, the only agenda item is to
formally introduce Ellen J. Kullman to the investment community. The call
is expected to last about 30 minutes. Members of the news media are invited
to monitor the investor call in a listen-only mode. For details on the
call, visit the company's Investor Center at http://www.dupont.com.
DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in
1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions
essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere.
Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of
innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and
food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking
statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and
projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about
the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth,
product development, market position, expected expenditures and financial
results are forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking
statements may be identified by words like "expects," "anticipates,"
"plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of
risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those
discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in DuPont's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly its latest annual
report on Form 10-K, as well as others, could cause results to differ
materially from those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to
changes in the laws, regulations, policies and economic conditions of
countries in which the company does business; competitive pressures;
successful integration of structural changes, including acquisitions,
divestitures and alliances; research and development of new products,
including regulatory approval and market acceptance, and seasonality of
sales of agricultural products.
Biographies and photos of Ellen J. Kullman and Charles O. Holliday, Jr.
are available at:
http://www2.dupont.com/Our_Company/en_US/executives/index.html
SOURCE DuPont
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Related links:
http://www.dupont.com/
CONTACT:
Anthony Farina of DuPont, +1-302-774-4005,
anthony.r.farina@usa.dupont.com
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