J. Pedro Reinhard’s last official connection to Dow Chemical was severed Thursday when Reinhard, a former CFO-turned-board member, was excluded from the slate of board members re-elected to a new term during the company’s annual meeting.
Reinhard retired as CFO of Dow in 2005 after 10 years, but stayed on as a senior advisor to the company. He was fired last month after Dow accused him of taking part in a secret effort to take over the company.
Reinhard kept his position on the board after he was dismissed because board members can only be removed by shareholders at the annual meeting, but the company took actions to ensure that he would not be reelected. Shortly after firing Reinhard on April 12, Dow’s board revised their list of approved nominees for board election, excluding Reinhard from the list, and sent shareholders a letter stating that he would not be up for reelection.
Reinhard denied accusations he was involved in a takeover effort. He filed suit on Wednesday against Dow and CEO Andrew Liveris, claiming that their “false and malicious statements” had damaged his reputation. Reinhard said he was “deeply saddened” that he had to file a lawsuit against the company “to clear his good name and reputation.” The complaint seeks both compensatory and punitive damages for libel, and compensatory damages for breach of contract, amounting to no less than $75 million.
Reinhard joined Dow’s Brazilian operations in 1970 in the finance department, became CFO and was elected to the board in 1995. He remains a board member of Royal Bank of Canada, Sigma-Aldrich, and Colgate-Palmolive.