Unilever announces new Chairman
By Canadian Packaging staff
General Dr. Marijn Dekkers Federation of German Industry General Electric German Chemical Industry Association Honeywell International Inc. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc Unilever Unilever N.V. Unilever PLCDr. Marijn Dekkers to succeed Michael Treschow in April 2016.
Unilever has announced that Dr. Marijn Dekkers, one of Europe’s leading global business figures, will succeed Michael Treschow as chairman of Unilever N.V. and Unilever PLC. He will be nominated for election to the board of directors at the Annual General Meetings in April 2016.
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company co-headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and London, United Kingdom. The third-largest consumer goods company in the world, Unilever is the world’s largest producer of foods spreads such as margarine, also offering a wide range of food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products, all available in about 190 countries.
Dr. Dekkers is currently chief executive officer of Bayer AG and will step down from this role at the end of April to begin work at Unilever.
Current chairman Michael Treschow will retire from Unilever at the 2016 AGMs after having served Unilever’s usual maximum tenure of nine years in the position. He joined the Unilever Boards in 2007 and was the first independent, non-executive chairman of Unilever.
Says Treschow, “Marijn Dekkers is a highly successful businessman with a formidable track record gained in some of the world’s most competitive industries. I have no doubt that Unilever will greatly benefit from his knowledge, international experience and his strong belief in driving business growth responsibly and in the long term.”
Dekkers comments: “I am honored to have been invited by the Boards to become Unilever’s Chairman and to help contribute to the purpose, vision and strategy of this Group. It is a great business, with great brands and an unequaled global reach. I know Paul Polman as an outstanding global leader and he and I are looking forward immensely to working together in the future.”
Vice-chairman and senior independent director Ann Fudge adds: “The Boards of Unilever are delighted to make this appointment. Our Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee conducted a thorough search. We set the bar high and I’m delighted our efforts have yielded such an excellent result.
“The Boards would also like to pay special tribute to Michael and the significant contribution he has made. Under his leadership Unilever has undergone one of its most successful periods in its history and he leaves the business well placed in its transformation journey. His strong leadership and commitment to sustainability and building long term profitable growth have been hallmarks of his Chairmanship and we wish him well in the years ahead.”
Dr. Marijn Dekkers, possessing both Dutch and U.S. citizenship, studied chemistry and chemical engineering, beginning his professional career in 1985 as a scientist at the corporate research center of General Electric in the U.S., before joining AlliedSignal (subsequently Honeywell International Inc.) in 1995.
In 2000 Dr. Dekkers became chief operating officer of Thermo Electron Corporation, a global leader in the manufacturer of laboratory instruments (later renamed Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.), becoming company president and chief executive officer in 2002.
Dr. Dekkers currently serves on the Board of Directors of General Electric in the U.S.
In September 2014, he took over the two-year presidency of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), Frankfurt. He is also a vice-president of the Federation of German Industry (BDI), Berlin.
Company information can be found at www.unilever.ca.
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