Despina Anastasiou  Vice President Industrial OEM Coatings

Despina Anastasiou is currently Vice President of Industrial OEM Coatings in Dow Coating Solutions and is responsible for the profit & loss and long-term profitable growth for this business unit. She is a member of the Dow Coating Solutions Leadership team and is located in Shanghai, China.

Despina joined Dow Chemical (Australia) in 1990 as technical service for Epoxy Products. In 1992 this expanded to technology focal point for Asia Pacific for the Composites industry and included a 6 month financial assignment. This was followed by market development and then regional market management roles for Epoxy/Thermosets in Asia Pacific in 1996.

In 2001, having completed Six Sigma M.A.I.C. training and project work, Despina undertook account management in ANZ for Epoxy, PU and Glycols businesses which included regional coordination of strategic coating accounts. In 2004, she served as Pacific Area Market Manager for Epoxy Specialties, and in 2005 was responsible for Global Market Development focusing on Dow's epoxy water based and toughening resin technologies. Despina was appointed Channel to Market Manager for APAC managing distributors and indirect channels.  In June 2007, she was appointed to her current role and relocated to Shanghai China in January 2008.

Despina earned both a B.Sc. (hons) and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Monash University, Melbourne and a graduate diploma in Japanese. She was awarded a Pinnacle Award for Sales Excellence in 2002 and received commercial Black Belt certification supporting Business Excellence initiatives for Thermosets in 2004.

Despina and her husband Peter have three children, Ross, Stephen and John.

November 2008