Unilever has appointed Nils Andersen as its new chairman of the board to replace Marijn Dekkers, who has decided to step down from his position with immediate effect.
Andersen has served as a non-executive director on Unilever’s board since April 2015 and is a member of the company’s audit committee.
Prior to joining Unilever, Andersen held the position as CEO of Danish transport company Maersk from 2007 to 2016, following his role as CEO of Carlsberg and Carlsberg Breweries from 2001 to 2007.
Nils Andersen
Most recently, Andersen has served as chairman of AkszoNobel since April 2018. Andersen intends to step down from his roles as non-executive director at BP plc and chairman of Salling Group in March 2020.
Andersen said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Marijn for his strong leadership and the contribution he has made as chairman. I am very proud to have been asked to succeed Marijn and I look forward to working with the board and the Unilever leadership team to support the company’s continued growth.”
The announcement of Dekkers’ resignation follows a year later from the departure of Unilever CEO Paul Polman and the appointment of Alan Jope to take up his position.
According to Unilever, Dekkers’ decision to resign was made so that he could focus on his investment and advisory firm, Novalis LifeSciences.
Marijn Dekkers
Dekkers, who has served as chairman of Unilever since April 2016, will remain on the company’s board as a non-executive director.
Marijn said: “It has been a huge honour to serve as chairman of Unilever and I am very proud of the work we continue to do as a truly purpose-driven company. My decision to step down has been a difficult one to make but I look forward to seeing Unilever go from strength to strength under Nils as chairman.”
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