Senior Vice President,
Lauren James is senior vice president of corporate development for Dow, a global material science company with 2023 sales of approximately $45 billion.
Lauren is a member of Dow’s Executive Committee, Leadership Team, and Corporate Sustainability Team, and supports the CEO and Chairman in all corporate development matters, including engagement with the Board of Directors. She is also the executive sponsor of North America RISE, Dow’s employee resource group that helps enable new employees to quickly contribute, influence, and feel valued.
Lauren joined Dow in Midland in 2003 and has held various roles across business, financial, and IT domains including positions in treasury credit management, investor relations, corporate strategic planning, corporate development including M&A, financial reporting, and systems implementation. In 2021, Lauren was named the global business director for a multi-billion specialties portfolio in the Industrial Solutions business where she was responsible for executing the growth strategy across the key levers: capital, innovation, and market mix improvements.
Prior to this role, Lauren was the vice president for strategic planning & strategy development where she led Dow’s corporate strategic planning and business analysis function. In addition, she led Dow’s Enterprise Risk Management and JV governance activities.
Her experience at Dow includes three years in Shanghai, China supporting the company’s growth in Asia Pacific.
Lauren holds an executive MBA from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Central Michigan University.