Liveris out to save Greece

The most powerful Greek Australian, businessman Andrew Liveris, is hoping to see a prosperous Greece, and thinks the Diaspora is the way to help it there.
The Dow Chemical CEO and founder of the global non-profit Hellenic Initiative, is working collaboratively with the Greek parliament and wealthy Greeks of the diaspora to promote investment in the country.
“We have tapped a vein of the Greek diaspora who really want to be partners with the Greek people in a way that has never been done before,” he told the Greek Reporter.
For Liveris, the idea of using the disapora to help Greece wasn’t a new idea, but something he envisioned for more than five years.
It was the failed attempt by former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to tap into the Greek diaspora that opened the door for collaboration.
“Greece needs to recognise what other countries do which is use the diaspora, Israelis do it, the Irish do it, and the Chinese do it. We are the same, we just happen to be living somewhere else. This is not just a vacation spot, this is the motherland. We care,” he said.
Mr Liveris successfully created the Initiative last month and famously brought former US President Bill Clinton to Greece to launch it.
The Initiative has already raised 100 million euros of capital for Greece.
Part of money collected by the Initiative will go to support non-profit organisations and infrastructure for children who have suffered major consequences from the economic crisis.
The sheer investment already obtained can be sourced back to Liveris and his revered position. When you are close with the CEOs of Boeing, of Xerox, Disney, UPS and other American giants, securing 100 million euros for a good purpose doesn’t seem too hard a task.
Liveris’ profile is one to be admired.
He is one of the 50 richest Greek expatriates in the U.S. and became CEO of the largest chemical company in the world, Dow Chemicals in 2004.
He is also a board member for IBM, vice president of the American Business Council, and member of the Executive Committee of the Business Roundtable.
More notably, he is an advisor to President Obama on export policy and was financial advisor to Bill Clinton when he was in office.
Born in Darwin to Greek migrant parents, he started working multiple jobs as a teenager when his father passed away, and completed a Chemical Engineering degree in Queensland. Despite an offer to study at Cambridge with a scholarship, he declined and pursued a career for Dow.
He progressed to manager of the Asia counterpart and then became the chairman of the board.
His wealth is estimated at 70 million.