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Karen Dobson

  • Deputy Chair, Chemistry Australia
  • Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand
  • The Dow Chemical Company

As Managing Director of Dow Australia and New Zealand, Karen is responsible for Dow’s business and operations, and advancing the company’s strategy and reputation across Australia and New Zealand.   

Karen joined Dow in 1987 as an engineer at the Altona manufacturing facility in Victoria. In 1988, she moved to Dow Water & Process Solutions (W&PS) as technical sales for Australia. In 1992 she was named Asia Pacific technical leader and relocated to Hong Kong, where she performed a number of marketing and commercial manager roles. In 2002, Karen was named global marketing director for FILMTEC™ Membranes and relocated to Minneapolis, USA.

Karen moved to Shanghai in 2007 for a new role as corporate marketing director for Dow Asia Pacific and in 2010 added the role of Asia Pacific regional business development director. Karen was appointed to global business director for Mining Solutions in Dow’s Oil, Gas and Mining business in 2014 and relocated back to Melbourne, Australia.

In August 2017, Karen was named global commercial director of Dow Olympic & Sports Solutions where she was responsible for growing the business impact of Dow’s sports sponsorship assets across all of Dow’s businesses. Karen took up her current role in January 2019.

Karen holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Become a member of Chemistry Australia

  • Membership of Chemistry Australia signals your commitment to the industry and ensures your organisation can play an active role in shaping the future for Australia’s chemistry sector.
    By working together, we can have a stronger voice to prosecute the key challenges facing our industry and advance chemistry as a critical enabler of a safer, more sustainable future for Australia and the broader community.

    Chemistry Australia Chair, David Hawkins

    • Effective and more influential industry advocacy to complement your business’ strategic objectives
    • Opportunities to influence the industry’s position on key policy and regulatory matters
    • Timely industry intelligence, analysis, and services to help inform your business decisions
    • Tailored tools and resources to save your organisation time, effort and money
  • We offer membership packages tailored to best meet the needs of businesses in, and associated with, the Australian chemistry industry:
    Corporate membership for businesses that manufacture chemical products, import, store, handle and/or distribute chemical and plastic products, convert plastics, or are involved in research, technology and education.
    Affiliate membership for organisations that represent a sector of the industry in Australia and internationally.
    Partner membership for organisations that provide services, equipment and professional development to the industry.
    Associate membership for SMEs and organisations in the chemistry industry value chain. 

  • All membership enquiries are welcome.
    Please contact Chemistry Australia on 03 9611 5400 or email .
    We look forward to working with you.