Rebecca Liebert is executive vice president, PPG. She joined the company in June 2018 and leads PPG’s global industrial, packaging, specialty coating materials and automotive OEM coatings businesses, including the company’s mobility initiatives. She also oversees the company’s Asia Pacific region and has functional responsibility for global procurement and industrial segment operations.
Liebert currently serves on the board of directors for Corteva Agriscience. She was recently recognized by Automotive News as one of the 100 leading women in the North American automotive industry.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I grew up on a farm in eastern Kentucky where I learned so many foundational skills that were aligned with a STEM career, particularly engineering. As such, I pursued a bachelor of science in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
I started my career as a development engineer with Nova Chemicals, a polyethylene/polystyrene company, where after a few years of designing new polymers and seeing how we could create value for our customers, I began to develop an interest in business. Nova provided the opportunity for me to earn a master of business administration (MBA) degree from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University while continuing to work. Over the years, I held positions of increasing responsibility at Nova, including some very transformational jobs in M&A and commercial leadership.
In 2006, I had the opportunity to join Honeywell, leading its Electronic Materials (HEM) business. Although I hadn’t worked in the electronics industry prior, I took the job with great excitement, but understanding there was risk. It was an opportunity to learn new technologies, a new industry, new cultures and regions of the world, as much of HEM’s business was based in Asia and I hadn’t worked in the region prior to accepting the role. I guess you could say Honeywell took a risk on me too.
The risk paid off. After nearly six years of successfully leading HEM, Honeywell promoted me to its UOP business where I ran the Gas Processing and Hydrogen business, along with the Catalyst business, and ultimately became the president and CEO of Honeywell UOP. UOP was yet another challenge as it was an oil and gas technology company with a very different business model, as UOP licenses its technology. Again, I learned new technologies, new regions and cultures (as this time much of the business was in the Middle East, Russia, Brazil and Asia), and new business models.
Following my time at Honeywell UOP, I was very excited to join PPG and the paints and coatings industry. It is the fifth major industry in which I have worked, and as I look back over my career, I have learnings that have transcended industries, regions and cultures. I want to thank all that took a risk on me, as it made me who I am.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
To me, interesting equals innovation. With the automotive industry pivoting to utilizing new technologies to deliver the future of mobility, society’s use of automobiles will also be shifting. Paints and coatings will play an important role in this shift. Whether the challenge is reducing emissions, enabling increased use of lightweight materials and mixed metals, ensuring precise technology application, or enabling safety and performance, PPG is innovating and delivering solutions that drive success. Performance is measured through each of these capabilities and hundreds more that ultimately help us ensure customer success and to protect and beautify the world. I am excited to be a part of even more “interesting” stories from our innovative PPG teams as the next surface to coat has yet to be invented.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Like most, it is tough to recognize a mistake as an opportunity. But we can all learn from them. Like most younger professionals, I would often worry about the past and things that I could not control early in my career. It was eating at my confidence and ability to perform. I was able to overcome this habit through discussions with a mentor, learning how others had overcome adversity, and developing more agile internal strength.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
PPG, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, is a leading global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. Through leadership in innovation, sustainability and color, PPG helps customers in industrial, transportation, consumer products, and construction markets and aftermarkets to enhance more surfaces in more ways than does any other company. As our Chairman and CEO, Michael McGarry, always says, “If it moves, we paint it. And if it doesn’t move, we paint that too.” Chances are, you interact with PPG paints and coatings every day of your life — the car you drive, the walls of a home or building, the laptop you work on, the road markings along a commute, the phone you scroll on are all protected by PPG coatings.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
PPG’s longstanding history of developing coatings for the automotive industry supports ongoing research and development and enables the company to adapt and support a rapidly evolving industry. As worldwide demand for electric vehicles (EVs) continues to rise, PPG provides carmakers and battery manufacturers with coatings that enhance vehicle performance, reduce costs and improve occupant safety.
PPG’s developments around battery coatings are just one of many examples. The company’s coatings protect many of the most essential parts of EVs, including the battery. Batteries used in EVs must store large amounts of energy for long periods of time making them vulnerable to overheating. PPG’s coatings technologies help to manage battery heat, improving range and safety, while also protecting the battery pack from potential damage from moisture, corrosion, component bonding and more. We also continue to develop a number of paints and coatings that will enable the future of mobility, including paint that will make self-driving vehicles visible to LIDAR and radar.
What advice would you give to other female leaders to help their team to thrive?
I believe employees truly want to do their best each day, and, to do so, they need to know what’s expected of them. I set strong goals and objectives for myself and the businesses I lead to ensure that my leadership teams have goals and objectives that align. The leadership team cascades these to the next level, and the next level to the following level, and so on. By cascading goals, our team members are empowered to make decisions at the point of action, which inspires employees to make it happen. I am also a strong believer in continuous improvement, and that is true across business operations and people development. I encourage managers to have regular formal and informal performance discussions with their employees to review their goals and objectives, celebrate their strengths, and identify opportunities of improvement.
What advice would you give to other female leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
To quote Jim Collins, author of the book Good to Great, “Get the right team on the bus and get each member in the right seat.” Once each player is in the right role, or seat, they have the opportunity to thrive and contribute their best abilities. When employees are aligned with strong cascading goals and objectives, teams are aligned on the mission and action at each level.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many people that I could thank for where I am today. That said, my husband Keith has to be at the top on the list. He has supported every job change, relocation, late night, and week and weekend away. He knows when to leave me alone and let me think, or interrupt to get my mind off things. Keith also leverages his career experiences to help me analyze and think through problems, and in many cases, it is often Keith’s recommendation that guides me.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I recently donated more than $6 million to the University of Kentucky’s College of Engineering, my alma mater. The fund will provide scholarship support to undergraduate students from Eastern Kentucky, with an emphasis on supporting female students and those who would strengthen UK’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. I view this donation as an investment in securing a diverse future for the College of Engineering and continuing to make a difference in the lives of future UK students from Eastern Kentucky. My hope is that this fund will enable young women who aspire to be engineers make their dreams a reality.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Working on my family farm at an early age taught me what I’ve since coined as the “3 Ps” of leadership: planning, project management and not procrastinating. These qualities were instilled early in life on my family’s farm in Kentucky where I was responsible for planning crops and raising pigs, while managing schoolwork. The farm is located in a town named Paintsville, Kentucky, so you could say my career in paints and coatings was destined.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I have made it a point throughout my career to champion programs that seek to cultivate future female STEM leaders. As the executive sponsor of PPG’s Young Professionals Network, I support programs that seek to close the STEM gender gap, fund hands-on science learning, and encourage the company’s female employees to serve as mentors and role models to share the possibilities and progress that a diverse STEM field holds. Think of the multiplier effect we could have if everyone who benefited from a STEM education did one thing to pay it back.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Never let a good crisis go to waste,” from Winston Churchill. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us all how adaptable individuals and businesses could be. Given my responsibility for PPG”s Asia-Pacific region and the automotive OEM business, which operates a facility in Wuhan, China — our business began managing challenges related to COVID very early in 2020. We established a playbook on how we were going to keep our people safe while continuing to serve our customers’ needs. It was a time to be proactive and implement adaptable and agile ways of working, especially in our manufacturing environments, as demand swings were dramatic. We led with frequent and open communications — sharing success stories, asking for ideas for engagement and providing the tools necessary to be successful.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
It would have to be Jeff Bezos. I would want to ask how he leads continual innovation and re-invention of Amazon. I would be interested to learn how he keeps each team focused on its customers, business goals, and leaders in their swim lane, throughout the various stages of the company’s progression after its beginning as an online bookstore. Also, how does he decide where to allocate the limited capital (both financial and people capital) to the biggest potential(s) for growth? How does he hire and build talent at the speed needed, while not jeopardizing Amazon’s “Day One” culture?
Source: https://medium.com/authority-magazine/rebecca-liebert-of-ppg-when-employees-are-aligned-with-strong-cascading-goals-and-objectives-6e5169552d61
July 1st, 2021.