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Unilever Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20-F 2003 53
Corporate governance
Business Presidents – Foods
Regions
Manfred Stach, Europe. Chairman, Europe Committee Aged 61.
Joined Unilever 1970. Appointed Business President 1998. Previous
position: Business Group President Africa.
Kees van der Graaf, Ice Cream and Frozen Foods Europe Aged
53. Joined Unilever 1976. Appointed Business President 2001.
Previous position: Chief Executive Officer, Unilever Bestfoods Europe.
John Rice, North America Aged 52. Joined Unilever 1981.
Appointed Business President 2001. Previous position: Business
President Latin America.
Rachid M Rachid, North Africa, Middle East and Turkey Aged 49.
Joined Unilever 1987. Appointed Business President 2001. (Also is
a representative of the region for HPC). He is interested through
family holdings in the partner that holds 40% of Unilever Mashreq,
which comprises Unilever’s operations in Egypt and the Levant.
Tex Gunning, Asia Aged 53. Joined Unilever 1982. Appointed
Business President 2000. Previous position: Business Group President
East Asia Pacific.
Alberto Sobredo, Latin America Aged 54. Joined Unilever 1998.
Appointed Business President 2002. Previous position: Executive
Vice-President, Latin America and Chairman, Unilever Chile.
Global Businesses
Diego Bevilacqua, Foodsolutions Aged 50. Joined Unilever 2000
upon Unilever’s acquisition of Bestfoods. Appointed Business
President 2001. Previous position: Vice-President Bestfoods and
President Bestfoods, Asia.
Robert Polet, Ice Cream and Frozen Foods Global Aged 48. Joined
Unilever 1978. Appointed Business President 1998. Previous position:
Business Group President Ice Cream and Frozen Foods Europe.
John Rice, Slim•Fast Worldwide See above.
Function
Anthony Simon, Marketing Aged 58. Joined Unilever 2000 upon
Unilever’s acquisition of Bestfoods. Appointed Business President
2001. Previous position: Vice-President Strategies and Core
Businesses Bestfoods.
Business Presidents – Home & Personal Care
Regions
Ralph Kugler, Europe Aged 48. Joined Unilever 1979. Appointed
Business President 1999. Previous position: Business Group President
Latin America.
Charles Strauss, North America Unilever Director. See page 52.
Anton Lenstra, Africa Aged 55. Joined Unilever 1989. Appointed
Business President 2000. (Also is a representative of the region for
Foods). Previous position: Vice-President Home & Personal Care
Europe.
Jeff Fraser, Asia Aged 60. Joined Unilever 1967. Appointed Business
President 1996. Previous position: Business Group President Central
Asia & Middle East.
Harish Manwani, Latin America Aged 50. Joined Unilever 1976.
Appointed Business President 2001. Previous position: Senior
Vice-President, Home & Personal Care Category Group.
Global Businesses
Charles Strauss, Prestige Unilever Director. See page 52.
Function
Simon Clift, Marketing Aged 45. Joined Unilever 1982. Appointed
Business President 2001. Previous position: Chairman Personal Care
Category Group, Latin America.
Corporate Officers
Jan van der Bijl, Joint Secretary and Head of Group Taxation
Aged 54. Appointed 1 July 2001. Years of service on 31 December
2003: 16 years.
Stephen Williams,2Joint Secretary and General Counsel Aged 56.
Appointed 1 December 1986. Years of service on 31 December 2003:
17 years.
John Bird,2Controller Aged 50. Appointed 1 November 2003.
Years of service on 31 December 2003: 28 years.
Henning Rehder, Treasurer Aged 50. Appointed 23 April 2002.
Years of service on 31 December 2003: 23 years.
James Duckworth,2Chief Auditor Aged 59. Appointed 1 March
1999. Years of service on 31 December 2003: 35 years.
Board changes
In February 2004 we announced that Niall FitzGerald would be
retiring as a Director of NV and PLC on 30 September 2004.
All his colleagues wish to record their sincere appreciation of his
major contribution to the development of Unilever over 37 years
of service, 17 of them as a Director and the last 8 as a Chairman.
Patrick Cescau will succeed him as Chairman of PLC and Vice-
Chairman of NV. Kees van der Graaf will succeed Patrick Cescau
as Foods Director.
All Executive Directors held office throughout the year.
In accordance with the Articles of Association of NV and PLC, all
existing Directors, with the exception of Charles Strauss, will retire
from office at the Annual General Meetings on 12 May 2004
and, with the full support of the Nomination Committee, will
offer themselves for re-election.
Charles Strauss and Senator George Mitchell will retire from office
at these Annual General Meetings. Their colleagues wish to thank
them for their contribution to Unilever.
Kees van der Graaf is nominated for election as a Director of NV
and PLC at the 2004 AGMs. He is currently Business President for
Ice Cream and Frozen Foods Europe. His biography is set out on
this page.
Details of Executive Directors’ service contracts are given on
pages 58 and 67.
The Boards, in line with the recommendations of the Nomination
Committee, have nominated Lord Brittan, Lady Chalker, Bertrand
Collomb, Professor Dik, Oscar Fanjul, Claudio Gonzalez, Hilmar
Kopper, Lord Simon and Jeroen van der Veer as candidates for
election as Non-Executive Directors of NV and PLC at the Annual
General Meetings on 12 May 2004. All were Advisory Directors
in 2003 and their biographies are set out on page 52.
These nominations are subject to the approval by shareholders at
those meetings of the related proposals to amend the Articles of
Association of NV and PLC. Upon adoption of those amendments,
the position of Advisory Director will cease.
As anticipated, Frits H Fentener van Vlissingen and Charles R
Shoemate retired as Advisory Directors in 2003.
Business President changes
John Rice, President Foods North America, will succeed Charles
Strauss as Chairman of the North America Committee and Harish
Manwani will succeed Charles Strauss as President Home &
Personal Care North America and Prestige. Anton Lenstra,
President Africa Business Group, will succeed Harish Manwani and
Doug Baillie, Chairman Lever Ponds South Africa, will succeed
Anton Lenstra. Robert Polet will take over Kees van der Graaf’s
responsibilities in addition to his current responsibility for Ice
Cream and Frozen Foods Global.