When Ellen Kullman became chief executive officer of DuPont, a science-based products and services company, the entire globe was facing an economic recession.
“In many cases, standing here now, given the circumstances, was almost sheer luck,” Kullman said Tuesday night in a lecture at the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Kullman was selected as one of five speakers brought to campus through the Dean’s Speaker Series this year. The program is intended to bring leaders in business, education and government to speak on campus, said Heather Havenstein, associate director of communications for the business school.
In 2009, Forbes Magazine ranked Kullman seventh on its list of “The World’s Most Powerful Women.” Fortune Magazine ranked her seventh on its list of “Most Powerful Women in Business.”
Kullman’s lecture focused on her experience serving as a CEO in the midst of a recession and the future of DuPont, which was founded in 1802 and has faced 33 recessions since 1854.
“If you look at our performance as a company, what you see is that they emerged stronger,” Kullman said.
Kullman served as the president of DuPont from October 2008 to December 2008, becoming CEO on Jan. 1, 2009. She also previously served as executive vice president of the company. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts University and a master’s degree in management from Northwestern University.
During the rough economic times and under Kullman’s leadership, eight percent of the company’s employees and 11 percent of the leadership was cut.
“We believe the actions we took were tremendously appropriate and were bold enough,” Kullman said.
