Ford Motor Co. chairman William Clay Ford Jr. and Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Co., will co-chair a
national summit from June 15-17, 2009, at Ford Field convened by the Detroit Economic Club.
The summit is dedicated to "four issues of vital importance to America's future in the global economy" -- technology, energy, environment and manufacturing. Liveris said in a statement that "we must come together, across industry and political lines, with new leadership and new thinking to keep the U.S. competitive."
The AP noted that in May, Liveris said, "For years, Washington has failed to address the issue of rising energy costs and, as a result, the country now faces a true energy crisis, one that is
causing serious harm to America's manufacturing sector and all consumers of energy."
Under Liveris, Dow has done many deals aimed at moving the company away from commodity chemicals and making it less dependent on pricey hydrocarbon feedstocks. In December there was an
$11 billion JV that combined a Middle Eastern company's energy supply with Dow's market reach. More recently
Dow moved deeper into specialty chemicals and advanced materials with its $18.8 billion cash purchase of Rohm and Haas Co.
In a BusinessWeek Q&A (among other places), Ford describes himself as a longtime
environmental crusader and a believer in smaller cars. In August, it was
rumored that General Motors Corp. approached Ford offering access to technology behind its Volt electric car if Ford was willing to combine some R&D efforts. -
Baz HiralalSee press release: DEC SummitRead the Yahoo! Finance article
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