Executive biographies

Executive directors

Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer

2009: Becomes Unilever's Chief Executive Officer
2008: Executive Director to the Boards of Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V., the first time an external candidate was chosen for the role.
2008: Nestlé S.A. Executive Vice President and Zone Director for the Americas.
2007: Named by Investor Magazine as CFO of the Year.
2006: Chief Financial Officer at Nestlé S.A.
2001: Group President Europe and Officer of The Procter & Gamble Company
1979: Joins Procter & Gamble

James A Lawrence - Chief Financial Officer

Mr Lawrence holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Yale University.
He was Chief Financial Officer of General Mills, Inc. from 1998 to August 2007.
Mr Lawrence previously worked at Northwest Airlines as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to that he was President, Pepsi-Cola, Asia Middle East and Africa.

Non-Executive directors

Michael Treschow

1970: Joined Bahco Ventilation, divisional management roles in Scandinavia and France
1976: Joined Atlas Copco, rising to Chief Executive
1992: Appointed to non-executive director roles at SKF and Saab
1996: Non-executive board member at Parker-Hannifin Corp
1996: Chairman of the Swedish Trade Council
1997: Joined Electrolux as Chief Executive Officer
2002: Board member of AB Electrolux and Chairman of Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson.
2003: Supervisory Board Member of ABB Ltd.
2004: Chairman of AB Electrolux
2004: Chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Brittan of Spennithorne, QC

1989/99: Member of the European Commission
1989/92: Responsible for competition policy and financial institutions at EC
1993: Responsible for external economic affairs and trade policy at EC
2000: Advisory director to Unilever
2004 Non-executive director to Unilever

Wim Dik

1964: Joined Unilever
1964/81: Various positions in the food and chemical divisions
1981/82: Minister of Foreign Trade in the Netherlands
1988: Joined Netherlands PTT
1989: Chairman of board of management and CEO of Koninklijke PTT Netherland
1998/2000: Chairman of the board of management and CEO of Koninklijke KPN
2001: Advisory director to Unilever
2004: Non-executive director to Unilever

Louise Fresco

1990 to 1997: Professor of Plant Production Systems and Chair of the Department of Agronomy at Wageningen University.
1997 to 2006: Various positions at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, including that of Assistant Director-General, Agriculture Department.
2009: Non-executive director to Unilever

Ann M. Fudge

Ann M. Fudge is a non-executive director at Novartis AG and at General Electric Co. Non-executive director
1993 - 2003: Served on the Board of Honeywell International Inc
2001 - 2003: Non-executive director of Marriott International Inc.
2003 – 2006: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Young & Rubicam Brands.
2009: Non-executive director to Unilever

Mr Charles E Golden

1970: Joined General Motors
1989: Chairman and CEO of Vauxhall Ltd – GM’s UK operation
1996: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Eli Lilly
2006: Non-executive director to Unilever

Dr Byron E Grote

1979: Joined Standard Oil
1986: Vice President, Retail Sales at Standard Oil’s mining subsidiary, Kennecott
1992: Regional Chief Executive, BP Columbia
1995: Deputy Chief Executive Officer, BP Exploration
1999: Executive Vice President, BP Exploration and Production
2000: Chief Executive, BP Chemicals
2002: Chief Financial Officer, BP

N. R. Narayana Murthy

1969: Completed Masters degree
1981: Founder and CEO of Infosys Technologies
2001: Named by TIME/CNN as one of the 25 most influential global executives
2002: Handed over as CEO of Infosys to co-founder, Nandan M. Nilekani
2003: Chairman of the Committee on Corporate Governance, Securities and Exchange Board of India
2004: Independent director of New Delhi Television Ltd
2005: Formally inducted into the UN Foundation Board of Directors

Hixonia Nyasulu

1977: Joined Unilever
1984: Founded T.H. Nyasulu & Associates
1992: Began serving as non-executive director, various blue-chip organisations
1997: Participated IMD programme for board members Lausanne, Switzerland
2002: Board member NEDCOR and non-executive director AECI
2003: Non-executive director Anglo Platinum Ltd
2004: Founded Ayavuna Women's Investments
2006: Appointed to South Africa's Banking Enquiry Panel
2007: Non-executive director Barloworld Ltd

Mr Kees J Storm

1993 to 2002: Chairman of the Executive Board of AEGON N.V.
Mr Storm is Chairman of the Audit Committee

Jeroen van der Veer

2005: Chief executive, Royal Dutch Shell, following 30 years with the business
2002/04: Member, supervisory board, Dutch Central Bank
2002: Advisory director to Unilever
2004: Non-executive director to Unilever

Paul Walsh

1982: Joined GrandMet's brewing division
1986: Finance Director, GrandMet
1992: Chief Executive Officer of The Pillsbury Company
2000: Chief Executive Officer of Diageo
1995: Appointed to the GrandMet Board
1997: Became member of Diageo Board.
2008: Appointed to the Business Council for Britain.
2009: Non-executive director to Unilever

Unilever executive (UEX)

Manvinder Singh (Vindi) Banga - President Foods, Home & Personal Care

1977: Joined Hindustan Lever Ltd
1979/98: Positions mainly in Detergents, Personal Products and Household Care in India
1998: SVP, Hair and Oral, Unilever PLC
2000: Chairman, Hindustan Lever Ltd
2004: Business group president, Home and Personal Care Asia
2005: President, Foods

Douglas Anderson Baillie

1978: Joined Unilever South Africa
1978/87: International posts in Sales and Marketing positions
1988: Marketing director
1994: Vice President, Home and Personal Care for the Africa Business Group
1997: Managing Director Lever Pond's South Africa
2004: President, Africa Regional Group
2005: Group Vice-President - Africa, Middle East & Turkey (AMET)
2006: CEO, Hindustan Unilever Limited and Group Vice President, South Asia
2008: President, Western Europe

Professor Geneviève Berger

1989: Completed PhD in Physics, PhD in Human Biology and Medical Doctorate
1991: Member, Scientific Board of the CNRS Department of Engineering Sciences
1991: Scientific Secretary then, in 1995, Chairwoman, CNRS National Committee for Scientific Research "Treatment and Drugs: Design and Resources"
1991: Director of the Laboratory for Parametric Imaging CNRS/University of Paris VI
1996: University Professor and Hospital MD, University of Paris VI
1997: Head, Department of Biophysics and Nuclear Medicine, Hôtel-Dieu Hospital
1998: Director of the Bio-engineering, Drugs and Agri-Food Department at the French Ministry of Education, Research and Technology
2000: Head of the Directorate for Technology at the French Ministry of Research
2000: Director General of the CNRS

Harish Manwani - President, Asia Africa

1976: Joined Hindustan Lever (HLL)
1995: Member of the HLL board
2000: Senior vice president, Global Hair Care and Oral Care, UK
2001: President, Home and Personal Care, Latin America business group
2004: President and CEO, HPC North America business group
2005: President, Asia Africa
2008: Received the CNBC Asia Business Leader of the Year Award

Sandy Ogg - Chief HR Officer

1972: Joins United States Coast Guard
1983: Becomes a leadership development and change management consultant
1998: Joins Motorola
2003: Joins Unilever as Senior Vice President – Human Resources Foods Division
2005: Chief Human Resources Officer

Michael B. Polk - President, Americas

2003: Joined Unilever Bestfoods as Senior VP and COO
2006: Appointed President of Unilever US
2007: Appointed President of Unilever Americas

Pier Luigi Sigismondi - Chief Supply Chain Officer

1997: Joined A T Kearney as Principal, later becoming Vice President of Operations in Italy
2002: Joined Nestlé S.A. as Vice President of Corporate Operations Strategies
2005: Moved to Nestlé Mexico as Vice President of Supply Chain and R&D
2009: Joined Unilever as Chief Supply Chain Officer and appointed member of the Unilever Executive

Senior corporate officers

Sven Dumoulin - Group Secretary

1998: Lawyer in litigation, corporate and securities law
2003: Joined Unilever as senior legal adviser and Deputy Company Secretary of Unilever NV
2003-2005: Professor of International Company Law at the University of Groningen
2005-present: Professor of Company Law at the University of Tilburg
2007: Joint Secretary Unilever NV and PLC

Howard Green - Group Controller & SVP Finance Categories

1973: Joined Unilever
1993: Head of Finance & IT, Central & Eastern Europe
1996: Head of Finance & IT, Latin America
2000: Head of Investor Relations
2004: Chief Auditor
2007: Group Controller and SVP, Finance Categories

Alan Johnson - Chief Auditor

1975: Joined Unilever as a finance trainee
1975/1983: Various positions in internal audit in UK and Brazil
1985: Chief accountant, UK industrial detergents business
1985/87: Worked in Nigeria
1987/91: VP, Finance in the UK meat business and foods and drinks; co-ordination in Rotterdam
1991/95: Finance director, Lever brothers
1996/99: SVP, Investor Relations
1999: SVP, Finance, Home and Personal Care Europe
2002: SVP, global Ice Cream and Frozen Foods
2004: SVP, Finance, Unilever Foods
2005: Chief auditor

Charles Nichols - Group Treasurer

1984: Joined Unilever, initially with the United Africa Company (UAC)
1996: Moved to the Netherlands to join Foods Executive
1999: Became vice president finance for Latin America
2004: Vice president Investor Relations
2008: Appointed managing director of Unilever Corporate Ventures
2009: Group Treasurer

Stephen Williams - General Counsel & Chief Legal Officer

1986: Joined Unilever as joint secretary
1993: Additional role of general counsel