It鈥檚 1977, and is in a lab with Gary Powers, discussing the results from one of her first lab experiments. The numbers don鈥檛 make sense, and Williams has come to Powers, a popular professor in 一本道无码鈥檚 Chem-E department, to figure out what went wrong. After determining that an inaccurate meter may be at fault, the two rig an experiment to test their hypothesis. A few students join in to set up the system, which includes a trash can to measure the water, a stopwatch to keep time, and a wrench to take apart the valve and measure flow variation. A few minutes later, as the setup nears completion, Williams, the only woman in the group, notices that she has ended up with the stopwatch, which means she will be timing and taking notes: not exactly the skills she鈥檇 hoped to master in this overtime effort.
Williams is part of a minority; women make up only about 10% of the chemical engineering class she joined in 1976. In other departments within the , men dominate the demographics in even greater numbers. To make matters worse, she says, at least one of her 1970s professors doesn鈥檛 think women should be engineers. It makes her and some of her female peers spend precious exam time altering their handwriting to appear more 鈥渕ale鈥� for his tests, hoping to ensure that their blue-book essays are judged on content, rather than cursive.
Powers, though, is one of her favorite professors; she doesn鈥檛 find him ever treating women with skepticism or outright sexism. But somehow, on this day, the stopwatch ended up in her hands. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want the stopwatch,鈥� she says emphatically. 鈥淚 want to turn the valves. I want to learn how the automation system works.鈥� After a nervous laugh from the group, Williams hands the stopwatch to a classmate, takes the wrench, and gets to work.
Today, more than three decades later, her continued enthusiasm for taking the wheel (or the wrench) keeps her at the top of her field. As the executive vice president of 鈥檚 Manufacturing and Engineering, Supply Chain, and Environmental Health and Safety Operations, she isn鈥檛 just taking charge in the lab; she鈥檚 taking charge on an international scale.
The Dow Chemical Company, by the numbers, is striking: $56.8 billion in sales in 2012, 5,000 products across six operating segments, 188 sites in 36 countries, and some 54,000 workers worldwide. All of the figures add up to a few simple facts: Dow is huge, necessary, and everywhere. In Williams鈥� words, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 live your life without chemistry.鈥�
The Dow Chemical Company鈥檚 many products and businesses fall into four broad categories: agriculture, consumer and lifestyle, energy, and infrastructure and transportation. What that means, Williams explains, is: 鈥淚f you open your refrigerator, we鈥檙e in the insulation. We鈥檙e in the paint. We鈥檙e in the plastics that are a part of it. Or your automobile: we hold the windshield in with adhesive, we are in the different panels, we鈥檙e in the seat cushions. If I look around my office, we鈥檙e in the electronics, we鈥檙e in the paints, we鈥檙e in the varnishes that are on the furniture.鈥� Williams is responsible for overseeing the quality manufacture of each product, and for ensuring that the manufacturing processes adhere to Dow鈥檚 overarching standards of workplace safety and environmental sustainability. At the end of the day, she oversees nearly 60% of the workforce of one of the world鈥檚 biggest chemical companies.
Her journey at Dow began in 1980, the same year she graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering. She started her career as an engineer in research and development, taking a position in plastic films and foams at Dow鈥檚 Granville Research Center in Granville, Ohio. The job offered her a welcome change of pace from the long, sometimes isolated work of the lab, allowing her to communicate directly with customers and to apply her technical learning to real-world solutions.
However, in the early years of her career, her customers weren鈥檛 always receptive to her help. When a five-foot, sweet-voiced, lipstick-sporting woman showed up to say, 鈥淚鈥檓 here to solve your technical problem,鈥� it was 鈥渁n interesting dynamic,鈥� Williams laughs. One customer, in particular, seemed especially resistant to her suggestions, going the opposite route from any recommendation she offered. Finally, after three or four unheeded attempts to fix the customer鈥檚 problem, she had to acknowledge she was making no progress. But instead of feeling embarrassed or inadequate for being ignored, she decided to be direct about the source of the communication gap, saying, 鈥淵ou know, I think I need to send a man to help you.鈥� The customer agreed. Judging from Williams鈥� continued excellence within Dow, the customer鈥檚 stubbornness was his loss.
鈥淪he is one tough individual,鈥� says Alan Shoaf, a longtime colleague. 鈥淪he鈥檒l make a decision and stand her ground toe-to-toe with anybody.鈥�
Shoaf has witnessed Williams鈥� determination throughout the years. They both started at Dow in 1980, but their first meeting wasn鈥檛 in the office; it was in their front yard, when they moved into opposite sides of a townhouse in tiny Granville, a village about 30 miles northeast of Columbus. Shoaf remembers Williams鈥� car pulling up for the first time, decorated with Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh Steelers stickers. The new neighbors began sparring over their sports rivalry. (Shoaf is a Cleveland Browns fan.) The two have been friends ever since, despite multiple moves. (Williams has moved seven times with Dow; Shoaf, five.)
SHOAF聽ENDED聽UP聽LEAVING聽DOW IN 2010 AND聽IS聽NOW global director of purchasing at Styron, which produces plastic, latex, and rubber. But it hasn鈥檛 affected their friendship, and he says their closeness has given him a unique perspective on her success. As she jumped from promotion to promotion in the company, he occasionally contemplated their different paths. They had started at Dow only one day apart, and he candidly admits that the timeline invited a sense of comparison. Every promotion for Williams could have elicited the question, 鈥淲hy not me?鈥� he laughs. But he says that any initial feeling of competition quickly turned to one of admiration. Watching her adeptly tackle roles across various branches of the company, he recognized that her continual success was the result of skill, not luck.
Williams鈥� skills have carried her through an impressive series of posts at Dow. Among them: director of the Analytical Science Lab (1993-95); business operations leader and site leader for North America Chlor-Alkali Assets (1999-2000); vice president of global purchasing (2003-04); research and development vice president for hydrocarbons and energy, chemicals and intermediates and core (2004-05); vice president of business development for market-facing businesses (2005-07); and president of chemicals and energy (2010-11). And that鈥檚 only about half the list.
鈥淚 do work hard, and I work a lot,鈥� she says. She credits much of her longevity to 一本道无码, noting that the university instilled the problem-solving skills and interdisciplinary work ethic that opened the doors to a deep and varied career. Still, it鈥檚 hard to imagine that her climb to the top wasn鈥檛 accomplished at a frantic, or at least frazzled, pace. Just reading her r茅sum茅 leaves you breathless. Yet her colleagues note that she attacks each project with a seemingly unflappable cool.
鈥淪he really never loses it,鈥� says her boss, Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris. Even working at an 鈥渙mnipresent鈥� level, 鈥渟he鈥檚 always calm, she鈥檚 always collected, she鈥檚 always poised.鈥� He remembers her strength during the early years of his leadership at Dow, when she helped lead the company鈥檚 shift toward a market-facing model. In the new model, the customer, rather than the product, would start the chain of action. So, after determining the customer鈥檚 need, Dow would work across its multiple businesses to provide a cohesive solution, rather than asking the customer to piece together an answer.
鈥淭hat meant an incredible amount of internal coordination,鈥� Liveris explains. 鈥淎nd solving a lot of egos and [dealing with] turf protection and all the things organizations fall victim to.鈥�
Williams remembers the process as 鈥渙ne of the most rewarding and frustrating鈥� of her career. Despite some setbacks along the way, she managed large-scale success on the project, including structuring Dow鈥檚 oil & gas business, with revenues now in the hundreds of millions. 鈥淚 had confidence Carol could pull it off,鈥� Liveris says, crediting Williams鈥� listening ability and courage under pressure as reasons for her success. Her official role on the project ended several years ago, but the trust between her and Liveris remains strong today. 鈥淚 can sleep at night knowing she鈥檚 running the machine,鈥� he says.
Williams鈥� other colleagues echo Liveris鈥� confidence in her stewardship of the company. 鈥淪he understands that Dow runs on people,鈥� says John Sampson, vice president of Dow鈥檚 environmental, health, and safety operations and a colleague of Williams since 1983. He explains how she 鈥済oes above and beyond, even at her level, to connect at a very personal level with those around her.鈥�
Such a statement could easily be dismissed as a corporate platitude. But proof of her personal touch is actually in Sampson鈥檚 office. When he left a post under her leadership two years ago, she wrote him a goodbye poem. He was surprised and touched by the gesture. He shares a few lines, which Williams read at his going-away party:
Now John is moving off to the U.S. Gulf Coast,
Where today, he and his family would roast.
Make sure to buy a big home with a pool,
And invite the leadership team for a barbecue and swim to stay cool.
Williams takes a self-deprecating attitude towards her poems, which she has also written for some other employees. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think she really understands how impactful it is,鈥� Sampson says, noting that the poem is among his 鈥渕ost prized possessions.鈥�
Karin Cook, a Dow operations leader in Louisiana, has a similar story to tell. Williams has been a mentor to Cook since 1996, when the two met at a Dow plant in Brazil. Williams eventually helped Cook move her career to the United States. However, one of Cook鈥檚 most exceptional memories with Williams took place far from the plant floor. It was in Baton Rouge, the night before her wedding, and she was showing her dress to her mother-in-law and Williams. Cook鈥檚 own mother, due to health problems, had been unable to travel from Brazil for the ceremony, so Cook was happy to have her 鈥渇amily in the States鈥� with her. As she was showing the two women her dress, she mentioned that she wasn鈥檛 crazy about the ruffles on the bolero jacket that went with it, but that she didn鈥檛 have the time or sewing skills to change it. Williams piped up, 鈥淲ell, I can sew it for you.鈥� Cook handed off the jacket, and the next morning, the day of the ceremony, Williams returned with bolero in hand. The ruffles were gone.
Erin Marken, Williams鈥� eldest daughter, is used to her mother鈥檚 seemingly endless energy. In addition to her work at Dow, Williams serves on the boards of directors of several Dow joint ventures, is a member of the and the , and serves on 一本道无码鈥檚 and Engineering Department advisory board. 鈥淢y mom rarely sits down,鈥� Marken explains. 鈥淪he is not a relaxer.鈥� For example, Marken laughs at the thought of her mom, the day after a family event, having it already scrapbooked. When her mom does have free time, Marken says, she often spends it practicing the piano or doing yard work, instead of plopping in front of the TV. 鈥淚 always joke that I leave her my weeds when she gets to my house,鈥� Marken says. 鈥淪he just has to be doing something.鈥�
There鈥檚 little doubt that Marken鈥檚 description of her mom would resonate with Williams鈥� classmates in that sophomore-year chemical engineering lab, where she swapped the stopwatch for a wrench.?
Olivia O鈥機onnor (A鈥�13) has been a regular contributor to this magazine since her sophomore year. This is her first feature story.
