Dow chief Liveris steps down next month ahead of retirement

DowDuPont Inc chief Andrew Liveris will step down on April 1, making good on an earlier promise to retire as the company named existing managers to head its materials science unit when it is spun off as Dow next year.

Jim Fitterling, currently chief operating officer of the materials science unit, will become its chief executive under the Dow brand in a spin-off planned for the first quarter of 2019, the company said in a statement.

Fitterling's current Chief Financial Officer Howard Ungerleider will serve as Dow's CFO. Both men are Dow veterans and have worked extensively on the merger.

Liveris, who headed US President Donald Trump's Manufacturing Council until it was disbanded last year, was chief executive of Dow Chemical until 2004 and continued as executive chairman after its merger with DuPont last year.

He will remain as a director of the combined...