Independent Non-Executive Director. Dr Burns is Chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dow Corning. She joined Dow Corning in 1983 as a researcher working on water based and high temperature elastomers. She became director of Women's Health in 1994 and subsequently moved into corporate management becoming Science and Technology Director for Europe in 1997. She was first elected to Dow Corning's Board of Directors in December 2000, she was then elected president and chief executive officer in February 2003, Chief Operating Officer in January 2004 and Chairman in January 2006.
Dr Burns holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, with an organosilicon specialty, from Iowa State University. She completed her post-doctoral studies at the Universite Montpellier, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, France.
She is a board member of the American Chemical Society and The Conference Board and sits on the executive committee of the Society of Chemical Industry. She has also served on the Michigan Molecular Institute.
