Unilever 2014 Annual Report Download - page 24

lsted company The obectve pursued by the Boards s to have a
varety of age, gender, expertse, socal background and
natonalty and, wherever possble, the Boards should reflect
Unlever’s consumer base and take nto account the footprnt and
strategy of the roup
In 2014, the ommttee engaged the servces of Russell Reynolds
Assocates, an executve search agency, to assst wth the
recrutment of a new Non-Executve Drector Russell Reynolds
Assocates, who also assst Unlever wth the recrutment of
senor executves, helped to dentfy Feke Sbesma as a potental
canddate The ommttee recommended to the Boards that Feke
Sbesma be nomnated as a new Non-Executve Drector at the
2014 AMs In May 2014 the AMs resolved to appont Feke and
hs appontment took effect on 1 November 2014 Feke s a
leadng busness fgure and brngs sgnfcant addtonal expertse
to the Boards, ncludng n the mportant areas of food, nutrton
and sustanablty
Successon plannng In consultaton wth the ommttee, the
Boards revew both the adequacy of successon plannng
processes and the actual successon plannng at each of Board
and ULE level
The ommttee, on behalf of the Boards, contnued durng 2014
to consder successon plannng for the Boards gven that Byron
rote and Kees Storm (Vce-harman/Senor Independent
Drector) are expected to retre at the AMs n May 2015 and
Mchael Treschow (the harman), and Hxona Nyasulu are
expected to retre n May 2016 The ommttee actvely engaged
wth the Boards n 2014 on potental Non-Executve Drector
canddates and on the profle of a future harman
In addton, durng 2014, the ommttee consulted wth the hef
Executve Offcer on the selecton crtera and appontment
procedures for senor management changes ncludng changes
to the ULE
DIVERSITY POLIY
Unlever has long understood the mportance of dversty wthn
our workforce because of the wde range of consumers we
connect wth globally Ths goes rght through our organsaton,
startng wth the Boards The Boards feel that gender s only
one part of dversty, and Unlever Drectors wll contnue to
be selected on the bass of ther wde-rangng experence,
backgrounds, sklls, knowledge and nsght
Unlever’s Board Dversty Polcy, whch s revewed by the
ommttee each year, can be found on our webste at
wwwunlevercom/boardsofunlever The ommttee also
revewed and consdered relevant recommendatons on dversty
and remans pleased that over 40% of our Non-Executve
Drectors are women
EVALUATION
As part of the external Board evaluaton carred out n 2014,
the Boards evaluated the performance of the ommttee
The ommttee also carred out an assessment of ts own
performance, Each concluded that the ommttee s performng
effectvely Nevertheless, the ommttee agreed that, to enhance
ts effectveness, t would gve fuller feedback to the Boards on the
appontment process of Non-Executve Drectors and arrange for
the external recrutment frm used to present to the Boards
Kees Storm
harman of the Nomnatng and orporate
overnance ommttee
Sr Malcolm Rfknd
Mchael Treschow
PROFILE OF UNILEVER’S BOARDS OF DIRETORS
DESIRED EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENE
In vew of Unlever’s obectves and actvtes, t s mportant
that the Boards have suffcent fnancal lteracy, have at least
one fnancal expert and are composed n such a way that the
followng expertse and experence are present n one or
more of ts members
• Executve management experence and knowledge of
corporate governance ssues at man board level wth
a company comparable n sze and nternatonal spread
of actvtes wth multple stock exchange lstngs
• Understandng of human resources and remuneraton
n large nternatonal companes
• Experence n fnancal admnstraton, accountng polces
and nternal control
• Rsk management of multnatonals wth share lstngs
• Understandng of the markets where Unlever s actve
• Experence n and understandng of the fast-movng
consumer goods (FM) market
• Knowledge of marketng and commercal expertse
• Awareness of corporate socal responsblty ssues and
• Experence wth R&D n those felds where Unlever
s actve
PROFILE
Ths profle gudes the Nomnatng and orporate
overnance ommttee and the Boards on the occason
of the nomnaton of Drectors It s revewed and updated
by the Boards perodcally
61Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2014 Governance