Unilever launches search for CEO Paul Polman's successor

Unilever has started its search for CEO Paul Polman’s successor. It enlisted headhunter Egon Zehnder, which will now search for possible candidates.

Several options

Polman has been Unilever CEO since 2009 and it is still not clear when he will vacate his position. However, it will not be long and sources have indicated to British Sky News that the Dutch CEO will resign in about eighteen months.

At first, Egon Zehnder will assist the member of the Board of Commissioners prepare the formal procedure. Marijn Dekkers, who became chairman of Unilever’s Board of Commissioners last year, will lead the procedure.

The first names have already been mentioned: Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao and Unilever’s current CFO, Graeme Pitkethly, have both been mentioned. Undoubtedly, many others will follow in the next few months, especially because Polman’s position as Unilever CEO is a very enticing role.

Company in transition

The new CEO may have to deal with a company in full transition. It has already altered its approach in the past few months, turning its attention to short-term profit after several shareholders pressured it to do so. In that sense, the company is also feverishly looking for a buyer for its margarine division. At the start of the year, Unilever also stated it will cut costs more than it had originally planned. It aims to cut up to 6 billion euro in costs in 2017 – 2019.

Unilever, currently a British-Dutch company, is also increasingly considering removing one of those nationalities. Both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have turned on the charm in order to entice the company. Analysts expect the Netherlands to win, especially because of the brexit. An announcement about the fact that it will shut down its British main office in favour of a Dutch main office could be done as soon as next month.