Eastman Chemical Company (EMN) JPMorgan Industrials Conference 2026 March 18, 2026 10:45 AM EDT
Company Participants
William McLain – CFO & Executive VP
Conference Call Participants
Jeffrey Zekauskas – JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Presentation
Jeffrey Zekauskas
JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Hi. Good morning. I’m Jeff Zekauskas. I analyze chemicals here at JPMorgan. It’s my pleasure this morning to introduce the management of Eastman Chemical. Representing Eastman is Willie McLain, who’s been Eastman’s Chief Financial Officer since 2020. Willie in the old days, took his MBA from the University of Chicago, and he’s done a wonderful job of managing Eastman’s cash flows over time and their tax position and assisting Eastman in its different attempts at transformation. In the audience is Greg Riddle, who is the Head of Eastman’s Investor Relations department and is always a helpful individual.
The form of our presentation today will be a fireside chat. Welcome, Willie, to our conference. There’s a conflict in Iran. How has this touched Eastman? Or when the conflict broke out, were there certain steps that Eastman took in order to preserve its competitive position or limit its vulnerabilities?
Question-and-Answer Session
William McLain
CFO & Executive VP
Well, Jeff, thanks again for hosting us this year at the Industrial Conference. And given your question, it’s also appropriate that we’re here in Washington, D.C. this year versus New York.
As you would expect with Eastman, I told Jeff as we started the discussion up here today, the year is off to a normal start. We’ve had winter storms, we’ve had Supreme Court rulings on trade, and we’ve got a war in Iran with the Middle East.
And Jeff, as you asked that question, Eastman is well positioned. We’ve had events in the past where oil has been above $100. I remind our business