Ellen Kullman, CEO of DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE:DFT) had honed her management skills decades ago. She had to bargain with suppliers and big customers, being the head of a $2 billion-a-year company, which primarily sold Titanium dioxide.
And now, we find Ms. Ellen Kulman, trying hard to keep of Trian Fund Management from joining DuPont, ahead of a shareholder voting process. The vote is scheduled to be held on May 13th 2015 and the stakes are much higher now.
Hardly a month before the voting take place, Ms. Kullman and Trian CEO Nelson Peltz has been busy travelling across the country to take in as many shareholders as possible under them. It is very well possible that both the teams have bumped into each other in the process on at least one occasion.
There are two schools of thought regarding management of the company. Trian believes that DuPont should cut off the large spending it makes behind its executives and simplify its business. This will help them to improve their earnings. Trian has made their intentions clear; they want four board seats, one of which shall be for Mr. Peltz.
Howevr, Ms. Kullman has argued that this action by Mr. Peltz only gives a suggestion that the Trian CEO wants to establish “a shadow management”. She believes that Trian lacks expertise and the patience required to lead the agriculture / chemical company.Also, DuPont has already begun cutting in costs by more than a billion USD.
Ms. Kullman got her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University and “fell in love with DuPont” after joining it. She is leading the company since 2009 and her colleagues have described her as a focused thinker, who is pretty comfortable with technical topics.
DuPont’s shares have climbed to nearly 185% since Ms. Kullman took over the role of CEO. Kevin Walkush, analyst at Jensen Investment Management believes that she has high credibility and “walks the talk”. The Oregon based company owns 1.87 million DuPont shares.
