business SPOTlight

brought to you in partnership with 
B I R M I N G H A M

 

H

oward Ungerleider 
pursued a circuitous 
career path across the 
country and overseas on behalf 
of a single company, moving 
with his family nine times 
before becoming the president 
and chief financial officer of 
Midland-based Dow Inc. 
The journey resulted in an 
impressive resume and the 
qualifications for top-executive 
management. It also under-
scored for him the responsibil-
ity to expand opportunities for 
jobs and promotions to aspi-
rants from diverse backgrounds 
— such as his own.

Growing up in a Houston 
suburb after moving with his 
family from New York, he 

recalls a classmate who had 
never met a Jewish person 
and knew the religion only in 
terms of inappropriate ethnic 
stereotypes. In sixth grade, 
he received an F on a math 
test when a teacher refused to 
reschedule a makeup due to his 
absence on the High Holidays.
“Being the only Jewish stu-
dent in the school was certainly 
one of the defining moments 
toward understanding what 
it’s like to be different from the 
others,
” he said.
“That’s why I’m very passion-
ate about driving inclusion and 
diversity inside Dow,
” he said. 

“
As a human being it’s the right 
thing to do. Everyone should be 
able to live up to their full per-
sonal and professional potential. 
And when I put on my CFO 
hat, I can see it creates more 
long-term value — the evidence 
is overwhelmingly clear.
”
Serving Dow in several loca-
tions in the U.S. and overseas 
before taking over his current 
leadership role in Midland has 
heightened his perceptions of 
comparative business climates 
in Texas, for example, overseas 
and that of Michigan, his fami-
ly’s home for the past 14 years.
Among Ungerleider’s civic 

28 | MARCH 10 • 2022 

Dow President and CFO 
Howard Ungerleider leads 
Business Leaders for 
Michigan.

Driving Michigan’s 
Economy Forward

DORON LEVIN SPECIAL 
TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Howard Ungerleider

COURTESY OF DOW

