Darius Adamczyk, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell, will accept the Yale Legend in Leadership Award from the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute during the Yale CEO Caucus in Washington, D.C., on September 14. The award will be presented by Lynn Good, Chair, President, and CEO of Duke Energy Corporation; and Doug Parker, Chairman of American Airlines Group.
Caucus organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies at the Yale School of Management, commented:
“Although Darius Adamczyk rarely seeks the limelight, his bold leadership in areas like environmental, social, and governance (ESG) provides a remarkable blueprint for how manufacturing, aviation, and technology CEOs can truly transform their organizations’ approach and impact on sustainability.
“Leveraging Honeywell’s 115-year-old roots in innovation, Adamczyk is leading his organization in delivering an impressive number of transformative sustainability solutions across multiple business lines.
For example:
- Solstice, a new generation of low hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) refrigerants, which reduce CO2 emissions by more than 99% from previous models;
- Green jet fuel from renewable oils (rendered from Honeywell’s proprietary Ecofining process), which enables 65% lower greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft;
- Green diesel, which enables 85% reduction from truck and rail transportation;
- Flow batteries, which allow surplus wind and solar power to be stored, transported, and used when needed in conjunction with Duke Energy;
- Hydrogen distribution systems, which provide a nascent, sustainable alternative to natural gas;
- technology for LNG pre-treatment and process solutions; and proprietary cloud software sustainability-focused analytics with multiple applications, ranging from reducing wasteful energy costs in standard commercial building management systems to optimizing aircraft routings around take-offs and landings to optimizing warehouse and logistics operations.
“These impactful solutions, enabled under Adamczyk’s leadership, is the gold standard for how legacy businesses can provide meaningful sustainability contributions to key industries of aviation, transportation, heating, logistics, materials, home and building technologies, personal appliances, etc., in not only the U.S. but in international markets such as China, where Honeywell has been a key provider of renewable energy technology.
“Honeywell also did its share to fight COVID in addition to the company’s vaunted mask-manufacturing operations, which produced hundreds of millions of face masks during the depths of the crisis, Honeywell also assisted the more hard hit countries. In India alone they established Covid critical care centers across five cities, equipped with beds, oxygen, personal protective equipment kits, and basic medical infrastructure.
“Honeywell was added to the NASDAQ 100 tech index just this year, in addition to joining the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average last year, and not a single analyst has a negative rating on Honeywell’s stock across all the major investment banks. Clearly, this is just the beginning. Honeywell’s long-term transformation around sustainability and technology in core markets of energy, life sciences, and digitization—combined with the business’ impressive financial performance with an order backlog approaching $30 billion—will continue to power continued sustainable growth for years.”
This year’s Caucus theme is “CEOs, Statecraft, and Strategic Focus: Business Priorities for Global Stability and National Harmony.” The event promises to be a lively, candid discussion with distinguished global corporate leaders from across industries.
Conference partners include Alix Partners, Cowen, Edelman, EY, Heidrick & Struggles, NewsGuard, Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg, Stagwell, and UPS.
About the Legend in Leadership Award
The Legend in Leadership Award was created 25 years ago to honor current and former CEOs who serve as living legends to inspire chief executives across industries, sectors, and nations. Past recipients include: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine; Doug Parker, Chairman of American Airlines; Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer; Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Lynn Good, CEO, Duke Energy; Lisa Su, CEO, AMD; Anthony Fauci, M.D., Director of the NIAID; Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart; Arne Sorenson, CEO, Marriott International; Andrew J. Young, Mayor (1982-1990), Atlanta, Georgia, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1977-1979); Brian C. Cornell, Chair and CEO, Target Corporation; Doug McMillan, President and CEO, Walmart; Ivan G. Seidenberg, Chair and CEO, Verizon Communications; Ken Frazier, Chair and CEO, Merck & Co.; Randall L. Stephenson, Chairman and CEO, AT&T; Colin Powell, retired four-star U.S. Army General, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–93), and 65th U.S. Secretary of State (2001–05); Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty, Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM Corporation; Janet Yellen, United States Secretary of the Treasury; Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever PLC; Mary T. Barra, Chairman and Chief Executive of General Motors Company; Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO, Bank of America; David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chairman, The Carlyle Group; Leonard S. Schleifer, President and CEO, and George D. Yancopoulos, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; Brian Roberts, CEO, Comcast; Marillyn Hewson, CEO, Lockheed Martin; Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase; and Ken Chenault, Chair and CEO, American Express. A full list of recipients can be found online.
About Honeywell Chairman and CEO Darius Adamczyk
Darius Adamczyk is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell. He was elected as Honeywell Chairman in April 2018. Before then, he was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer in March 2017 after serving for a year as President and Chief Operating Officer. Darius’ focus in these roles has been on accelerating Honeywell’s organic growth, expanding margins, transforming the Company into a premier software-industrial, deploying capital effectively, and building a high-performance culture.
Darius joined the Company in 2008 when Metrologic, where he was serving as Chief Executive Officer, was acquired by Honeywell. He served as President of Honeywell Scanning and Mobility for four years, doubling the size of the business, before leading a turnaround over two years as President of Honeywell Process Solutions. In 2014, Darius was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies.
Before joining Honeywell, Darius held several leadership positions with Ingersoll Rand and Booz Allen Hamilton. He began his career as an electrical engineer at General Electric in 1988.
Born in Poland on February 8, 1966, Darius emigrated to the United States at age 11. He earned his MBA from Harvard University, a master’s degree in computer engineering from Syracuse University, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Michigan State University. Darius also completed the GE Edison Engineering Program, as well as numerous executive development courses at Wharton and Duke, among other institutions.
He has received the Corporate Social Responsibility Award from the Foreign Policy Association as well as the John D. Ryder Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Award from Michigan State University. He was also named a “Best CEO” by Institutional Investor in its 2019 All-America Executive Team, and as a “Most Admired CEO” by Charlotte Business Journal in 2020.
Darius is Vice Chair of the U.S.-China Business Council, a member of the Business Roundtable Board of Directors, and a member of the Business Council and Aspen Economic Strategy Group. In addition, he was elected to the Board of Directors for Johnson & Johnson in 2022.
