Paul 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.
31 Facts About Paul Polman
2.
Paul Polman had hoped to become a doctor, but medical school places were allocated by lottery and he was not chosen.
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Paul Polman completed his MA in Economics and MBA in Finance and International Marketing in 1979 at University of Cincinnati.
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In June 2014 Paul Polman received his honorary doctorate during the 400th anniversary of the University of Groningen.
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On May 18,2018, Paul Polman received his Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from George Mason University.
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Paul Polman then joined Nestle in 2006 as chief financial officer and in February 2008 became vice president and head of the Americas.
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On 1 January 2009, Paul Polman succeeded Patrick Cescau as chief executive officer of Unilever.
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Paul Polman has argued that, in a volatile world of finite resources, running a business sustainably is vital for its long-term growth and mitigates risk and reduces costs.
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Some shareholders have worried that Paul 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.
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Paul 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.
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In 2009, Paul Polman decided to make many significant management changes in order to improve Unilever's revenue in each of its business pillars.
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In November 2018, Paul Polman announced he was stepping down as chief executive officer of Unilever at the end of 2018 with Alan Jope succeeding him.
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In July 2019, Paul Polman announced the formation of a new group - Imagine - to help combat poverty and climate change.
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Paul Polman is a former chair of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and sat on the board of directors of the Consumer Goods Forum, leading its sustainability efforts.
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Paul Polman is a member of board of the UN Global Compact.
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At the invitation of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Paul Polman served as one of the 27 members of the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
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At the invitation of former Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, Paul Polman served on the International Council of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.
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Paul Polman has co-authored a report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute that criticizes the efforts of the SDGs as not ambitious enough.
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Paul Polman is a member of the World Economic Forum International Business Council, the Global Taskforce for Scaling up Nutrition and was part of the European Resource Efficiency Platform Working Group, chaired by European Commissioner Janez Potocnik.
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Paul Polman was co-chair of the World Economic Forum 2012.
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Paul Polman is a counsellor of One Young World and trustee of the Leverhulme Trust.
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Paul Polman served on the board of Unilever from 2009 to 2019.
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Paul Polman formerly served on the boards of Dow and Alcon.
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Paul Polman is part of the Leadership Vanguard, an initiative that seeks to identify, support and mobilise the next generation of leaders, focuses on redefining value.
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Paul Polman has been a member of IESE's International Advisory Board since 2015.
26.
In 2016 Paul 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.
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Paul Polman was again appointed in 2019 by the current Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
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Paul Polman is co-chair of the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate, with Nicholas Stern and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
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Paul Polman is a member of The B Team, chairing the group from August 2018 to September 2021.
30.
Paul Polman is married to Kim Paul Polman, with whom he has three sons.
31.
Paul Polman has received awards for his leadership and efforts in sustainable development that include:.