A Brisbane-educated boy who is now the CEO of a $45 billion global company will deliver a free public talk as part of The University of Queensland’s Centenary Oration Series on Monday, 22 November 2010.
Dr Andrew Liveris, who attended Brisbane State High School and graduated from The University of Queensland (UQ) with a chemical engineering degree, took the helm of The Dow Chemical Company in 2004.
His grandparents emigrated from Greece in the 1920s and settled in Darwin where Dr Liveris was born. He moved to Brisbane with his mother when he was 16 after his father died suddenly.
His talk, titled “On the Centenary: The Next 100 Years. Queensland, Australia and the World” will provide an overview of Australia’s past global contributions and will consider its future role from a global perspective.
"As someone who has dedicated his life to innovation, I would venture to say that we have never needed it more than today,” Dr Liveris said.
“The world’s most pressing needs will be met - and mastered - by innovation through science and innovation of the sort that happens at The University of Queensland and, if I may say, at Dow.
“So when people gather one hundred years from now for The University’s bicentennial, let them say that it was here that Australia’s new transformation got started. That it was here that Australian scientists and engineers found solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, and worked with Australian and international companies and entrepreneurs to bring them to market."
Dr Liveris was among a select few of the world’s most influential people who were recently invited to participate in the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative Summit.
The summit brought together business leaders and high profile people including, Madeleine Albright, Lance Armstrong, Tony Blair, Jim Carey and Laura Bush, to discuss and agree to participate in programs to help some of the poorest communities in the world.
Dr Liveris has worked at Dow his entire career. He began in Dow’s Australian offices in 1976 as a graduate and has since worked in almost all areas of the company from manufacturing and engineering to sales, marketing, and business and general management.
He spent the bulk of his career in Asia, where he was general manager for the company's operations in Thailand, and later President of all Asia-Pacific operations.
Dr Liveris serves on the board of directors of IBM and Citigroup. He is president of the International Council of Chemical Associations and vice-chairman of the US Business Council. He is also a member of the executive committee of the US Business Roundtable, the US President’s Export Council, the US-India CEO Forum, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the American Australian Association, and a trustee of Tufts University.
To register to attend Dr Liveris’ oration, please go to http://www.uq.edu.au/centenary/oration-series
UQ Centenary Oration Series background
The Centenary Oration Series was initiated to celebrate UQ’s centenary year and has featured internationally respected thinkers and leaders exploring topical issues across a range of areas including politics, Indigenous education, medical research and scientific discoveries.
The Centenary Oration Series speakers have included the lead camera scientist on the Mars rover exploration, Professor Jim Bell; Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova; Indigenous leader and 2010 Young Australian of the Year finalist, Mr Jack Manning Bancroft; and former Australian Foreign Minister Professor Gareth Evans.
All orations are free to the public.
The final Centenary Oration will be delivered by UK-based cancer researcher, Professor Michael Stratton on 7 December 2010.
For more information on The University of Queensland Centenary see http://www.uq.edu.au/centenary
Media: Kathy Grube, UQ Communications (07 3346 0561, k.grube@uq.edu.au)
