Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Director
Global Purchasing
The Dow Chemical Company
James Elder is an EPC Director within Dow Global Purchasing. James is home based out of the Houston Dow Center and is currently on a temporary assignment supporting large capital construction projects in Plaquemine, Louisiana. James is responsible for leading the outsourcing of EPC services in support of large capital projects and large maintenance turnarounds within Dow.
James began with Dow as an engineering student intern in 1985. After three Dow summer internship assignments, James joined Dow full time in 1988 as a production engineer in Pittsburg, California. In 1994, James moved to Dow headquarters in Midland, Michigan and worked in a variety of roles in support of external contract manufacturing and moved into a commercial development manager role for Dow’s contract manufacturing services business in 1999. In 2004 James returned to manufacturing as a senior production leader at Dow’s St. Charles Operations in Louisiana. In 2009, James moved to Houston to join Dow purchasing as the global category leader for Pipes, Valves and Fittings and Personal Protective Equipment. Within Dow global purchasing, James has also been the global MRO sourcing director and the global category director for contract labor and services. James moved into his current role in 2016.
James has been actively engaged in Dow’s Global African Affinity Network (GAAN) since its inception in 1999. James served as the Corporate co-chairperson of this network from 2004- 2007 and fulfilled GAAN site implementation leader and site leadership sponsor roles.
James holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwood University.