Unilever has appointed Compass Group chairman, Ian Meakins, as the next chair of its board.
Meakins will be joining the consumer goods company as chairman designate on September 1, before officially becoming chair on December 1, The Times reported.
Prior to joining Compass Group, he held roles at Diageo and Procter & Gamble.
Meakins will be taking over the position from Nils Anderson who will be stepping down from the board at Unilever’s annual general meeting in May 2024, after nine years.
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Speaking of his new role, Meakins said: “It is a great honour to have been asked to succeed Nils as chair of Unilever. I look forward to working with the board and with Hein and his leadership team to help realise Unilever’s full potential and create value for all its stakeholders.”
Earlier this month, the Hellmann’s and Ben & Jerry’s owner appointed Hein Schumacher as its new CEO to replace Alan Jope who announced his intention to retire in September 2022 after five years in charge.
Schumacher added: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Nils for his excellent leadership of our company as chair over the last four years.
“Nils chaired the company through a period of significant volatility and some of the most challenging operational conditions in decades.”
This comes as Unilever is to allow its 3,000 Russian workforce to be conscripted into the Ukraine war, as Russian law requires any business operating in the country to allow the conscription of workers if they are called on.
Unilever chief business operations and supply chain officer, Reginaldo Ecclissato, said it will “always comply with all the laws of the countries we operate in.”
