The Sadara board comprises eight members. Saudi Aramco's Abdullatif A. Al-Othman is board chairman and Dow's James D. McIlvenny was named as deputy chairman.

Other members of the Sadara board include Tofiq H. Gabsani, president of Saudi Refining, Inc.; Michael R. Gambrell, Dow executive vice president and adviser on manufacturing and engineering to chairman and CEO; Abdulaziz M. Judaimi, Saudi Aramco's vice president, chemicals; Ahmad O. Al-Khowaiter, Saudi Aramco chief engineer; Howard Ungerleider, Dow senior vice president and president of Performance Plastics Division and William H. Weideman, Dow executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The Sadara board also announced the names of a number of senior officers for the key joint venture. Ali A. Abuali, former president of Aramco Services Co., Saudi Aramco, a US-based subsidiary in Houston, has been named Sadara chief executive officer; Luciano Poli, Dow finance director for Europe, Middle East & Africa, is chief financial officer; Lee Trusty, Dow Joint Manufacturing Program director for Sadara project, has been named vice president for manufacturing and engineering; Naser M. Al-Abdulkareem, commercial director for Vela International, is vice president, business and services and Mohammed T. Al-Sellemi, director of Human Resources Services Department, Saudi Aramco, has been named vice president for industrial relations.

Saudi Aramco President and CEO Khalid Al-Falih said: "Sadara is poised to become a significant contributor for Saudi Aramco's transformational downstream growth strategy. I am pleased to see that this game-changing enterprise has now become a reality. I am confident that Sadara will be a success story for many generations to come."

"Monday's announcements mark another exciting and significant step forward for Sadara as it fulfills its commitment to building and operating a world scale, fully integrated chemicals complex in Jubail," said Dow's Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris. "I am truly delighted to see the progress that we have made, and I am most impressed with this line-up of outstanding leadership for Sadara. I have no doubt they will bring this premier partnership between Dow and Saudi Aramco to life and build a venture that is well positioned to create value on every front."

Once complete, the joint venture complex, now being built in Jubail, will be one of the world's largest integrated chemical facilities, and the largest-ever built in a single phase. First production units are expected to come on line in the second half of 2015. All units are expected to be up and running in 2016.