Lori Ryerkerk’s career began as a fresh-faced 21-year-old who moved to Louisiana to take a brand-new job at ExxonMobil. She had just completed her chemical engineering degree at Iowa State University and was entering the workforce at a time when women still struggled to be taken seriously – especially in male-dominated industries like oil and gas. She was the only female hired by the company that year.
Ryerkerk’s patience and strong drive were put to the test from day one. She heard backhanded compliments from senior managers that she was too good to “mess up” her career and have children, amongst many other unwanted observations that would land someone in HR today. “‘You shouldn’t be here. You’re taking a man’s job. Why aren’t you at home?’ All that. But you know what? I couldn’t control what anyone else thought about me. I could only control how I chose to respond,” says Ryerkerk.
As the youngest of five children, Ryerkerk was used to ignoring what she couldn’t change immediately and continuing to do her best work. After a long and successful career at Exxon and then Royal Dutch Shell company, she finally decided to retire. However, six months into her retirement, the CEO of Celanese Corporation, an Irving, TX-based specialty materials company, retired. This left an open position that would be perfect for someone like Ryerkerk to fill.
Celanese was looking to replace retiring CEO Mike Rohr with someone who didn’t just tick a diversity box, but who would champion diversity and inclusion of all kinds throughout the company. She was one of the first to loudly speak out against the “bathroom bill” of 2017, and she has cultivated a strong internal program of community involvement, encouraging employees to give back to their communities as much as they can. Ryerkerk has also turned Celanese’ focus to the environment by ramping up the company’s sustainability efforts. Last year marked the fifth consecutive year that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized the company as an Energy Star partner.
Ryerkerk was named one of America’s Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune as well as CEO of the Year by D CEO in 2020. She is currently on the Eaton Corporation board of directors.