Paul Polman

Paul Polman
Paul Polman at the One Young World Conference in 2014
Born Paulus Gerardus Josephus Maria Polman
(1956-07-11) 11 July 1956
Enschede, Netherlands
Nationality Dutch
Alma mater University of Groningen
University of Cincinnati
Occupation Businessman
Years active 1979–present
Salary £10.3 million (total compensation, 2017)[1]
Title CEO of Unilever
Term 2009-present
Predecessor Patrick Cescau
Successor Incumbent
Spouse(s) Kim
Children 3

Paulus Gerardus Josephus Maria Polman KBE (born 11 July 1956) is a Dutch businessman. After a long-term tenure with Procter & Gamble, he joined the board of Nestlé in 2006. Since 2009, he has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of the British-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever. Polman has received several awards for business leadership related to sustainable development.

Early life and education

Polman was born and grew up in the Dutch city of Enschede, in a Catholic family with three brothers and two sisters, the son of a tyre company executive father and a former schoolteacher mother.[2]

Polman had hoped to become a doctor, but medical school places were allocated by lottery and he was not chosen.[2] Instead, he studied at the University of Groningen, graduating with a BBA/BA in 1977.[3] He completed his MA in Economics and MBA in Finance and International Marketing in 1979 at University of Cincinnati.[4]

In June 2014 Polman received his honorary doctorate during the 400th anniversary of the University of Groningen.[5]

On May 18, 2018, Polman received his Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from George Mason University. As the day's Commencement speaker,[6] Dr. Polman declared, "Any system where too many feel they are not participating or are left behind will ultimately rebel against itself."[7] Capturing the spirit of his own sense of purpose, he continued, "The world we want will only be achieved when we choose action over indifference, courage over comfort, and solidarity over division."

Career

Procter & Gamble

Polman worked for Procter & Gamble for 27 years (from 1979), initially as a cost analyst, becoming managing director of P&G U.K. from 1995 to 1998, president of global fabric care from 1998 to 2001, and group president Europe in 2001.

Nestlé

Polman then joined Nestlé in 2006 as chief financial officer and head of the Americas.[8]

Unilever

On 1 January 2009, Polman succeeded Patrick Cescau as chief executive officer of Unilever. Under Polman's leadership, Unilever has set a target to decouple its growth from its overall environmental footprint and improve its social impact through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.[9] Polman has argued that, in a volatile world of finite resources, running a business sustainably is vital for its long-term growth[10] and also mitigates risk and reduces costs.[11] Unilever has now seen eight years of top line growth, averaging twice the rate of overall market growth, whilst improving the bottom line and delivering a total shareholder return of 290%. Bernstein's 2017 Blackbook entitled 'European Food and HPC: 10-Year Global Market Share Analysis' rated Unilever top-of-class for absolute market share gains (ex-M&A) and a proportion of its categories with gains. It also compared medium-term operating expectations to current valuations, leading to an Outperform rating on Unilever. Some shareholders, however, have worried that Polman's focus on sustainability has become more important to him than the financial performance of Unilever after the company missed sales targets for six out of eight quarters in 2013 and 2014. Polman, who scrapped short-term targets at the company, has argued that the failure to meet targets is a result of erratic currency fluctuations and the slow-down in emerging markets since 2013. Paul Polman has said that he has ambitions to increase the company's sales in emerging markets from the current 57% (47% in 2008) to 70% of turnover. Procter & Gamble, by contrast, make only 37% of sales in emerging markets and Nestlé 43%.[12] In 2009, Polman decided to make many significant management changes in order to improve Unilever's revenue in each of its business pillars.

In 2016, Polman's total compensation was €8.3 million including a basic salary of €1.2million and other benefits (2015, €10.2 million).[13]

In its H1 2017 results, Unilever met analyst expectations when it reported underlying sales growth of 3.0% in the first half of 2017, ahead of markets. Underlying operating margin was up 180bps.[14]

In 2018, Unilever supported the abolition of Dutch dividend-tax.[15] As an argument that it was the reason, Unilever moved its HQ to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.[16] Even though over 80% of Dutch citizens were against the tax-cut. Meaning a loss of about 2 billion euros of tax-revenue a year for the Dutch state.[17]

Other responsibilities

Polman is a former [18] chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and sits on the board of directors of the Consumer Goods Forum,[19] leading its sustainability efforts. He is also on the board of the UN Global Compact.[20] At the invitation of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Polman served as one of the 27 members of the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. At the invitation of former Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, Polman served on the International Council of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.[21]

He has co-authored a report published be the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that criticizes the efforts of the SDGs as not ambitious enough. Instead of aiming for an end to poverty by 2030, the report "An Ambitious Development Goal: Ending Hunger and Undernutrition by 2025" calls for a greater emphasis on eliminating hunger and undernutrition and achieving that in 5 years less, by 2025.[22]

Polman during the WEF 2013

Polman co-founded the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition, led by former Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende. He is a member of the World Economic Forum International Business Council,[23] the Global Taskforce for Scaling up Nutrition (SUN)[24] and was part of the European Resource Efficiency Platform Working Group,[25] chaired by European Commissioner Janez Potočnik. He was co-chairman of the World Economic Forum 2012. He is a counsellor of One Young World[26] and trustee of the Leverhulme Trust. Polman was co-chair of the B-20 Food Security Taskforce.[27]

Polman serves on the board of Unilever since January 2009 and was elected to the Dow board of directors in February 2010 where he serves on the Environment, Health, Safety and Technology Committee.[28] He formerly served on the Board of Alcon. Polman is also part of the Leadership Vanguard, an initiative that seeks to identify, support and mobilise the next generation of leaders, focuses on redefining value.[29]

He is president of the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust, a foundation he created to benefit blind children in Africa, and chairman of the Perkins International Advisory Board.

In 2016 Polman was selected by former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to be an SDG Advocate, tasked with helping build widespread support for the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.[30]

Polman is co-chair of the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate, with Nicholas Stern and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.[31]

Personal life

Polman is married to Kim; the couple have three sons.[32]

Polman once considered joining the priesthood.[33]

Sample of awards

Polman has received awards for his leadership and efforts in sustainable development that include:

  • European Business Leader of the year by Wall Street Journal/CNBC (2003)
  • Investor Magazine CEO of the year (2010,2011,2012)
  • Award for Responsible Capitalism (2012)[34]
  • INSEAD Business Leader for the World Award (2012)
  • WWF's Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal (2013)]
  • Rainforest Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award (2014)[35]
  • David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership award - Synergos (2014)[36]
  • Doctor Honoris Causa of Business School Lausanne (2014)[37]
  • Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (2016)[38]
  • Singapore Government Public Service Star - Distinguished Friends of Singapore (2016)[39]
  • Enactus Entrepreneurial Spirit Award (2017)
  • Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2018)[40]
  • Treaties of Nijmegen Medal (2018)[41]
  • Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from George Mason University (2018)

References

  1. ↑ "Unilever chief's pay package rises 51% to £10.3m". The Guardian. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 Saunders, Andrew (1 March 2011). "The MT Interview: Paul Polman of Unilever". Management Today. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Can Unilever's Paul Polman change the way we do business?". Financial Times. Retrieved 2018-05-15. (Subscription required (help)).
  4. ↑ Hill, Andrew (2018-03-19). "Business school: Theranos, leadership at McAfee, Unilever's HQ". Financial Times. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  5. ↑ "Paul Polman | Profile | Organisation / FEB | FEB | About us | University of Groningen". www.rug.nl. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  6. ↑ "Unilever CEO Paul Polman on finding career success and encouraging corporate responsibility". www2.gmu.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  7. ↑ "Commencement May 18, 2018 at 10 o'clock". gmutv.gmu.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  8. ↑ Archived 18 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ "Sustainable Living | Unilever Global". Unilever.com. 16 February 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "KPMG - Unilever CEO Paul Polman talks strategy".
  11. ↑ "Guardian - Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan helps cut costs and drive growth".
  12. ↑ "Paul Polman's socially responsible Unilever falls short on growth." Scheherazade Daneshkhu and David Oakley, Financial Times, 9 February 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  13. ↑ Editorial, Reuters. "Unilever seeks changes to pay to give managers owner's mindset". U.K. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  14. ↑ "Latest Results". Unilever global company website. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  15. ↑ "Unilever CEO Polman defends Dutch gov't's cut to dividend tax". NASDAQ.com. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  16. ↑ "Unilever, Britain's third biggest company, moves its headquarters to Rotterdam after almost a century in London". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  17. ↑ "Topman Unilever: 'Goed dat Nederland dividendtaks afschaft'" (in Dutch). Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  18. ↑ "Sunny Verghese appointed as new chairman of World Business Council for Sustainable Development". Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  19. ↑ "History of The Consumer Goods Forum". Theconsumergoodsforum.com. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "United Nations Global Compact". Unglobalcompact.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Commission on the Economy and Climate". New Climate Economy. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  22. ↑ Fan, Shenggen and Polman, Paul. 2014. An ambitious development goal: Ending hunger and undernutrition by 2025. In 2013 Global food policy report. Eds. Marble, Andrew, and Fritschel, Heidi. Chapter 2. Pp 15-28. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
  23. ↑ "The World Economic Forum". Weforum.org. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "Scaling Up Nutrition". Scaling Up Nutrition. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "European Resource Efficiency Platform - European Commission". Ec.europa.eu. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "Where Young Leaders Start Leading". One Young World. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Cinépolis". B20.org. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  28. ↑ "Paul Polman". The Dow Chemical Company. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  29. ↑ "This page has been removed". Retrieved 10 January 2018 – via www.theguardian.com.
  30. ↑ "Secretary-General appoints advocates to build widespread support for the Sustainable Development Goals". 19 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  31. ↑ "Members of the Global Commission". NewClimateEconomy.net. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  32. ↑ Cave, Andrew (8 August 2009). "Paul Polman is taking a stand and delivering at Unilever". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  33. ↑ "The parable of St Paul". The Economist. 31 Aug 2017.
  34. ↑ "2012 Award". Responsible Capitalism. 13 May 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  35. ↑ "2014 Rainforest Alliance Gala: Paul Polman Accepts Lifetime Achievement Award". Rainforest Alliance. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  36. ↑ "University for a Night 2014 : April 8 in New York City" (PDF). Synergos.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  37. ↑ "2014 Annual Graduation Ceremony of Business School Lausanne". Business School Lausanne. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  38. ↑ "Ad Council's 64th Annual Public Service Award Dinner To Honor Unilever CEO Paul Polman". Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  39. ↑ "Two business leaders receive Singapore's Public Service Star award". Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  40. ↑ "Honorary Awards" (PDF). Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  41. ↑ "Treaties of Nijmegen Medal awarded to Paul Polman". Retrieved 30 April 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.