Teresa Keating, Business Manufacturing Technology director for Dow Building Solutions, and Kathleen O'Connell, global director of Display Technologies Research and Development (R&D), were recently recognized with a Women in Manufacturing STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Production) award by The Manufacturing Institute. Both Keating and O'Connell will join over 100 women and emerging leaders at a reception in Washington, D.C. next month.

As a Business Manufacturing Technology director, Keating is responsible for leading and directing the operations and technology center of Dow's 21 global Styrofoam' plants. Despite having extended cross-geographical responsibilities, she has been able to effectively unify her global organization into one cohesive team to achieve higher levels of performance than ever before.

O'Connell, currently celebrating 20 years with Dow, has a long history of accomplishments. Most notably, she led a team of Dow scientists and engineers for the Semiconductor Technologies business to produce cutting-edge photoresist technology, which is used to fabricate microelectronic chips in computers, tablets and cell phones we rely on every day.

"Teresa is a natural leader and role model for women in this industry," said Peter Holicki, corporate vice president, Operations. "Her visionary leadership is helping to shape the future of manufacturing. Keating challenges herself as well as her peers, encouraging others to take risks and break paradigms to reach unprecedented levels of performance. I am proud to have her on my team."

"Kathleen's passion for science and innovation makes her a great leader," said A.N. Sreeram, corporate vice president, R&D. "Her accomplishments extend well beyond the walls of Dow, where she serves as a valuable mentor and coach to hundreds of young students interested in STEM careers. This award is a testament to her visionary leadership and her valuable contributions to the future of manufacturing."

The STEP awards honor women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers at all levels of the manufacturing industry.

"These women are the faces of exciting careers in manufacturing," said Jennifer McNelly, president of The Manufacturing Institute. "We chose to honor these women because they each made significant achievements in manufacturing through positive impact on their company and the industry as a whole."

A recent study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute found that 80 percent of U.S. manufacturing companies report a moderate to severe shortage of qualified applicants for skilled and highly skilled production positions. Currently, women represent 51 percent of the total potential workforce, but only 25 percent are in manufacturing. The STEP awards are part of a larger STEP Ahead initiative, launched to examine and promote the role of women in the manufacturing industry that focuses on the attention, development, advancement and retention of high potential female talent.

About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high-growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2014, Dow had annual sales of more than $58 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 products are manufactured at 201 sites in 35 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

About The Manufacturing Institute
The Manufacturing Institute (the Institute) is the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers. As a non-partisan organization, the Institute is committed to delivering leading-edge information and services to the nation's manufacturers. The Institute is the authority on the attraction, qualification and development of world-class manufacturing talent.www.themanufacturinginstitute.org.

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