Ramesh Ramachandran President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandran is the president and chief executive officer of Equipolymers located at the company's headquarters in Dubai. Equipolymers is a 50:50 joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of Kuwait. Prior to joining Equipolymers , Ramachandran served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Dow Chemical International Pvt. Ltd (Dow India), located at the company headquarters in Mumbai, India.

A chemical engineer by training, Ramachandran earned his Doctorate in surface and colloid chemistry from Columbia University, New York. He has spent his entire career in the chemical industry, initially as an analytical chemist before moving into the commercial side of the business holding product and marketing manager roles for a wide variety of business units.

Ramachandran is the recipient of multiple awards in recognition of his business contributions. He holds several publications and patents to his credit, and was recently awarded an honorary fellowship from the Maharastra Academy of Sciences in India in recognition of his outstanding contribution to management sciences. In 2008, he was presented with the Asian Paints Padma Bhushan Dr RA Mashelkar Medal and Chemcon Distinguished Speaker Award for Leadership at Chemcon 2008, organized by the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers recognizing efforts taken in developing products and solutions addressing energy and sustainability.

Joining The Dow Chemical Company in 2001, Ramachandra was named as business director for acrolein derivatives, ENB and specialty ketones, before taking over responsibility as business director for Dow's hydrocarbons division in 2003 in the United States. In 2004, he relocated to Calgary in Alberta, Canada, assuming the role of president of Dow Chemical Canada Inc. and continuing his role as business director of Dow Hydrocarbons.

As president, he was also a member of the board of directors of Petromont Inc., a joint venture between Dow Chemical Canada Inc. and the Quebec Investment Group. During his tenure in Canada, Ramachandran was presented with the Alberta Centenary Citizen award in 2005 for contributions to the petrochemical industry in Alberta. Ramesh returned to the US in 2006 to Dow's headquarters in Midland, MI to take the role of senior director of global strategic planning and business analysis. He then moved to the role of president and CEO of Dow Chemical India in October 2007.

Ramachandran serves on the board of Waterhealth India Pvt Ltd., a non-government organization (NGO) active in providing drinking water solutions through the use of technology, and is also an advisory committee member for the Habitat for Humanity (IndiaBUILDS) program. In 2008 Ramachandran was awarded the Asian Paints Padma Bhushan Dr. RA Mashelkar Medal and Chemcon Distinguished Speaker Award for Leadership at Chemcon, organized by the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, recognizing his efforts taken in developing products and solutions addressing energy and sustainability. In 2009, Ramachandran received an honorary fellowship from the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences in recognition of his outstanding contribution to management sciences.