Creating Insights & Transparency.
Sales X-Ray Specialty Chemicals Business Consulting
Specializing in clean technology & advanced materials innovation.
Executive Profile
Tom Cook, Principal Consultant, is an international expatriate executive and board member in the advanced materials industry. Tom has a passion for clean technology and is known for delivering materials innovation, profitable business results, championing strategic business challenges, and possessing an unwavering resolve to accomplish objectives. He is recognized as a commercially astute, culturally aware, collaborative leader and mentor who can synthesize complex strategic issues down to addressable frameworks. He has also been relied upon as a trusted leader to provide effective governance, ethics and compliance oversight providing valuable business consulting perspectives for clients.
Tom has broad knowledge serving specialty chemicals customers in many industries including automotive, electric vehicles, electronics, semiconductors, LED lighting, solar, energy, solid state batteries, oil & gas, aerospace, healthcare, synthetic biotechnology, personal care, household care, textiles, pulp & paper, coatings, packaging and construction industries.
Tom has achieved acclaimed innovation and technology commercialization success, including leading the strategy development for the XIAMETER® online business model. The model drove a shift of Dow Corning's $6B+ in sales to be more than 30% online, producing significantly increased profitability. The model has been cited by Harvard University’s innovation expert, Clayton Christensen, as well as business magazines, university case studies and marketing textbooks as one of the most successful disruptive innovations in the chemical industry. Citations have been made by Industry Week magazine, Forbes.com, Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business School, Dartmouth College, the textbook Value-Based Marketing for Bottom-Line Success & many others.
As Senior VP & General Manager of Dow Corning's global Specialty Chemicals Business, Tom led new materials innovation and accelerated the profit growth through P&L management of the $2B+ global business, delivering >60% of the corporation’s profit and innovation revenue. The business comprised all operating functions including 500 R&D personnel, 4,500 total employees and 18 manufacturing sites around the world.
Tom has extensive international experience as an expatriate with over 8 years in Belgium, Japan and China as well as greater than 20 years experience in global roles with Dow Corning Corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan. Dow Corning was the world leader in silicone and silicon-based materials with >$6B in sales and more than 10,000 employees worldwide prior to being fully acquired by the Dow Chemical Company in 2016.
Tom was a board member and Japanese shareholder liaison for Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation from 2004-2010. Polycrystalline silicon sales into the semiconductor and solar markets more than doubled to >$2B with manufacturing capital investments >$1B during the period.
From 2006-2011, Tom was chairman of Dow Corning country legal entity boards in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia and Japan. The boards were responsible for country legal entity oversight including financial reporting, audit, governance, ethics and compliance reviews. During this time, he was the lead corporate executive for governance, ethics and compliance in Asia responsible for education, policies, issue investigation, and issue resolution.
Tom also served as lead director for Dow Corning Toray Co., LTD in Japan and was responsible for oversight of the $600M silicones joint venture with Toray Industries from 2010-2011.
Tom has twice been a speaker at the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, South Korea on the topics of innovation, profitable growth, leading change and managing transformation. He has also spoken at universities and appeared on CNBC & Bloomberg TV to discuss the disruptive innovation of the XIAMETER® business model.
Tom has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University, graduating with cum laude honors. He also has a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in finance from Central Michigan University, graduating with magna cum laude honors.
Most recently Tom completed Northwestern Kellogg's executive education program on Artificial Intelligence: Strategies for Leading Business Transformation in the fall of 2020.
See more of Tom's business consulting profile and experience on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-cook-89462b15/
Skills & Expertise
Business Strengths
- Global P&L Business Management
- Joint Venture Management
- Strategic Initiative Leadership
- New Technology Commercialization
- Acclaimed Innovation Success
- Global Sales Leadership
- Customer Relationship Management
- Channel Management
- Broad Customer Industry Knowledge
- Cultural Sensitivity & Awareness
- Shared Services Leadership
- Information Technology & Artificial Intelligence
- Fortune 500 & Start-Up Leadership
- Change Management
Governance Leadership & Oversight
- Board Director
- Chairman of the Board, Asia Legal Entities
- Corporate Governance
- Governance Policies & Practices
- Code of Conduct
- Regulatory Compliance
- Risk Management
- Audit Tracking & Resolution
- Corporate Compliance Committee
- Government Relations
- Diversity & Inclusion Leadership