Chemical Company CEO
An immigrant, he rose to lead a major U.S. chemical company, trying to work peacefully with regulators while prodding the industry to adopt safer practices.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Frank Popoff (given name Pencho) (FP) was born in Sofia, Bulgaria.
CHILDHOOD EMIGRATION
At age 4, FP was brought by his parents and sister to the U.S., where they settled in Terre Haute, Indiana. Mom and dad ran a dry-cleaning business in their new hometown.
EDUCATION
Inspired by a high school teacher who had been gassed while fighting in World War 1, FP studied chemistry at Indiana University, where he earned Bachelor’s and Master of Business Administration degrees.
CHANGE OF CAREER DIRECTION
Despite his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, FP didn’t want to focus his career on the scientific side of chemistry. “Perhaps I lacked the creativity and the vision that successful chemists have,” said FP during an interview with the Science History Institute. “I was really interested in the commercialization and application of chemistry.”
CHANGING FOCUS FROM PURE SCIENCE TO THE BUSINESS OF CHEMISTRY
FP joined the Dow Chemical Company, remaining employed there for the next 41 years in various capacities: starting in the urethane laboratory, then in technical services and chemical sales. Later he moved into increasingly influential positions: president of Dow Europe, executive vice president of Dow Chemical and two years later, president and chief executive. Finally, he was named chairman of the company.
Under FP’s leadership, Dow expanded its Asian operations and bought a majority stake in the drugmaker Marion Laboratories before selling the drug company six years later amid patent expirations and heavy competition.
CHALLENGE – PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
When the Bulgarian-born FP was named Dow’s president and CEO, the company had begun trying to shed its image as a pugnacious chemical giant that had manufactured napalm and the defoliant Agent Orange for the U.S. military during the Vietnam War; release toxic waste, like dioxins, into the Tittabawassee River from its plant in Midland, Michigan; and fought the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to prevent flyover inspections of its emissions.
Two years before FP ascended to leadership of Dow, the company had begun an estimated $50 million advertising campaign, using the slogan, “Dow let’s you do great things” – intended to change public perceptions of Dow, promoting an image of it as a nicer corporation, underlining its charitable giving and humanitarian uses of its products.
“I think we have a fair amount of work to do in terms of the way we – as a chemical company – are viewed by the public,” said FP. “We know we’ll never change the mind of Ralph Nader (an outspoken environmentalist). But Dow is at peace with itself, and we want our people to feel good about the company, too.”
Dow was best known then for manufacturing chemicals, including chlorine, as well as for using chemicals in making plastics, pharmaceuticals and supermarket goods like Saran Wrap, Fantastik cleaning liquid and Ziploc bags.
Regulators were heavily focused on chemicals at the time. So, in 1991, FP and another Dow executive set up a panel of outside environmental policy advisers – among them a former EPA administrator – who scrutinized Dow’s operations and were able to obtain confidential information. A current version of that panel remains in place at Dow.
As a testament to its focus on decreasing the company’s negative impact on the environment, Dow reduced by almost one-third its emissions of 121 harmful chemicals which the EPA had tracked, and the company was on the way to its goal of cutting emissions by one-half.
FP commented, “I’m in the chemical business. That’s synonymous with a lot of bad things. But I’m for environmental responsibility. There is no alternative to environmental reform in our industry,” he said, arguing that chemical companies should lead such efforts or be forced to deal with poorly designed regulations.
CAREER SATISFACTION
A Dow executive who succeeded FP in leadership of the company said that FP’s most important achievements revolved around making safety a critical goal – “not that it hadn’t already been important, but he put it front and center.” Also, FP was an early proponent of sustainability which included generating less waste, consuming fewer resources and better ensuring employee safety.
FP helped advance a voluntary industry-wide code of conduct, called Responsible Care, which formalized those principles.
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This career story was based on an obituary written by Richard Sandomir, published by The New York Times on March 13, 2024 plus internet research.
