David Weidman

David Weidman is the CEO of Celanese Corp., a Dallas-based manufacturer of specialty materials and chemical products.  Celanese is a Fortune 500 company. Weidman has been the CEO since 2004.  He joined Celanese AG (Celanese’s predecessor) in September 2000 where he held a number of executive positions.  Weidman is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes inadvertently called the Mormon Church.

He is the Chairman of the board of the American Chemistry Council and serves as a member of the boards of the National Advisory Council of the Marriott School of Management and the Society of Chemical Industry. He is also a member of the Advancement Counsel for Engineering and Technology for the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology and a member of the board and Chairman of the finance committee of The Conservation Fund (Wikipedia).

In early 2011 Weidman and his wife, Rachel, gave $10 million to Brigham Young University to open the Weidman Center for Global Leadership in the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology, where students will learn global agility and leadership flexibility along with the core technical skills.

The donation provides an annual operating budget of nearly $500,000 for the new department.  The endowment will also provide study abroad opportunities, like the ones currently in place for students to travel to China, where they study some of the world’s largest buildings, and Mexico, where they work on solutions to complex water problems.  The college currently sends more than 100 students abroad each year. [1]

Weidman received his bachelor’s of science degree in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University and his master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan. [2]  He is a native of Tremonton, Utah.