6 minute read
Here’s To
business SPOTlight
DRIVING MICHIGAN’S ECONOMY FORWARD continued from page 29
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gap with strong bipartisan measures to invest in degree and training programs with the goal of having 60% of the working population degreed or credentialed by 2030,” Ungerleider said.
“(But) we must do more,” he said, “including removing barriers to work by investing in childcare, broadband access and affordable housing, which will drive additional labor force participation. To address some of the immediate issues in our K-12 education system, we recommend using American Rescue Plan Act funding ($6.5 billion of federal aid provided to Michigan) to expand teacher training and recruitment and to invest in before and after school support and summer learning programs.”
HIS CAREER AT DOW
Ungerleider’s own post-secondary educational journey began at the University of Texas, where he studied marketing. “It was a great education and in terms of dollar input per output of knowledge, a tremendous value for in-state students,” he said.
Corporations, Dow among them, recognized Texas as a top school and recruited there. “I was interested in business, so the summer between my junior and senior year I came to work for Dow in Midland, which I previously hadn’t known existed.”
Dow, he said, has a competitive, hardworking and promote-from-within culture. “That summer they threw me in the deep end, trusting me with an important project concerning the fluid used for de-icing airplanes.
“At the time, Dow was a large player in that market; and a big technology shift was taking place. We were trying to figure out how fast it was happening and what we could do to differentiate ourselves. I hadn’t yet graduated from college, and I was talking to the FAA and to airport operators around the world,” he said. “At the end of the project I made recommendations to the business unit’s leadership team — it was pretty exciting stuff.”
Following his graduation, Dow hired Ungerleider in 1990 to work in sales on the West Coast, first in San Francisco and then Los Angeles. While working in Los Angeles, he earned an MBA at UCLA. Additionally, he worked for Dow in Houston twice; Danbury, Connecticut; Philadelphia; and Zurich, Switzerland, before returning to Midland in 2008 as vice president of investor relations.
— HOWARD UNGERLEIDER
here’s to
Hunter Pasteur, Southeast Michigan’s premier luxury residential builder, announced that
Jake Dangovian
has been named vice president of finance. Dangovian previously served as a senior financial and acquisitions analyst — responsible for budgeting and reporting systems throughout Hunter Pasteur’s project portfolio. The new role will expand Dangovian’s duties to include financial reporting, cash flow management, trade partner management and investor relations. Craig E. Zucker has been appointed to the executive committee of Maddin Hauser Roth & Heller P.C., in Southfield. Zucker is a shareholder with the firm and co-chairs its Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Debtor-Creditor Rights group.
John A. MacKenzie has been selected to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Up & Coming Lawyers” for 2022. He is a shareholder with Maddin Hauser and member of its Complex Litigation and Risk Advisory Group.
Ronald A. Sollish has been selected to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2022 “Hall of Fame” class. He is a shareholder with Maddin Hauser, and serves as an executive committee member and chairman of its Corporate/Employment Group.
Lauren (Garfield)
Herrin, 37, of Bloomfield Township and associate director of Jewish Community Relations Council/American Jewish Committee (JCRC/AJC) was named as one of Oakland County’s 40 Under 40. The 2022 class honors young professionals who live and/ or work in Oakland County and exemplify Oakland Together, a vision for a community working together to leverage its strengths, address its challenges and find value in working with regional partners.
Life at headquarters proved to be even more exciting than the up-and-coming executive had imagined. Dow and DuPont had been longtime rivals in the chemical industry, giants whose leaders for years had toyed with the idea of merging in order to optimize their complementary strengths. The theoretical basis for joining forces was actualized in 2015 when the two companies proposed a highly unusual plan to merge into one big company — and then to split into three separate publicly traded companies, pursuing three different businesses: performance chemicals and packaging (Dow); specialty materials and nutrition (DuPont); and agricultural chemicals and seeds (Corteva).
When the plan was announced at the end of 2015, Ungerleider had risen to vice chairman and chief financial officer of Dow. He then became chief financial officer of DowDuPont, the $80 billion entity that was to be split into three. As the board contemplated the proposed leadership and management teams for the three new corporate entities, a dilemma arose: The new Dow had been blessed with two excellent candidates for CEO: Ungerleider and Jim Fitterling, another longtime Dow veteran.
“We wanted both of them to say,” said Steve Miller, then a director of DowDuPont. “Both are accomplished and effective leaders. We were quite eager as a board to figure out a solution.”
The solution was naming Fitterling, a few years senior to Ungerleider, as CEO, with Ungerleider as president and chief financial officer.
The board’s calculation that Ungerleider’s devotion to Dow would overcome any disappointment proved correct. “I think the board made a great decision. I mean, I’ve known Jim Fitterling for 30 years. He’s a tremendous individual. A tremendous leader. I think in many ways our skills are highly complementary. He’s the pilot, I’m the co-pilot — we’ve both got to be able to fly the plane.”
As his corporate and civic profile grew, Ungerleider came to the attention of Jewish community leaders in Detroit, who invited him to travel to Israel in 2019, his first visit, as part of a delegation that included Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“The trip was life-changing for me,” he said. “I came home and I was kicking myself and told my wife we have to go again. And I can’t believe it’s taken me more than 50 years of my life to see Israel. It was special. It was spiritual. I don’t even know if I have the words to describe it.”
As a leader in many fields and a member of Bay City’s synagogue with his wife and two children, Ungerleider looks forward to one day undertaking a similar role on behalf of his people:
“I don’t know what the Jewish community needs in the state, but I think they can count on me to help with my resources and my expertise. Whatever I can do to help contribute, I would. I certainly am passionate about the faith.”
Carr Elbaum Klein
Elan S. Carr, Daniel Elbaum
and Hon. Ronald Klein have been awarded the Gitelson Silver Medallion by the Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation. The award recognizes AEPi alumni for their commitment to Jewish communal services. Carr, an attorney, served as the United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism from 2019-2021. Elbaum is the head of North America for the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) as well as the president and CEO of the Jewish Agency International Development (JAID); Klein has worked in the private sector as a business and transactional attorney for over 25 years and in the public sector as an elected official. He is a member of Holland & Knight’s Public Policy & Regulation Group and co-chair of the firm’s Israel Practice Group. Mi BANK announced Bruce Kridler’s appointment as director of its new Private Client and Family Office initiative. In his new role, Kridler will oversee the delivery of additional products and services to Mi BANK’s high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients. Some of these services will be provided directly by Mi BANK, and others will be delivered by Mi BANK through strategic relationships it will develop with other providers.
Hy Safran, 37, director of philanthropy, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit & United Jewish Foundation, was named as one of Oakland County’s 40 Under 40. The 40 Under 40 class honors young professionals who live and/or work in Oakland County. These individuals exemplify Oakland Together, a vision for a community working together to leverage its strengths, address its challenges and find value in working with regional partners.
