Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 72

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 2015
to work on successon plannng for the Boards gven that Mchael
Treschow (the harman) and Hxona Nyasulu were expected
to retre n Aprl 2016, each havng then served for the maxmum
nne years
harman Successon Havng agreed n the 2014 Board and
ommttee evaluaton process that the ommttee should gve
fuller feedback to the Boards on the appontment process of
Non-Executve Drectors the ommttee actvely engaged wth the
Boards n 2015 on the profle of a future harman
The Boards agreed that the man accountabltes of Unlever’s
harman were that the harman should char the shareholder
meetngs, oversee the overall strategy, act as a soundng board
for the Executve Drectors and the Non-Executve Drectors, plan
for successon of all Board members, keep all communcaton
open between the Boards and set an example of ntegrty and
ethcal leadershp for the entre Unlever roup In addton, n
vew of Unlever’s obectves and actvtes, t was mportant to the
ommttee and the Boards that the profle of the new harman
ncluded a proven track record as a EO, deep knowledge of
ndustry, experence of workng at more than one company, ablty
to spend suffcent tme n Europe and support for the Unlever
Sustanable Lvng Plan
Durng the search, the experence of each potental canddate was
matched aganst the profle agreed by the Boards, the vews of
Russell Reynolds and MWM on the shortlsts of canddates drawn
up by the ommttee were shared wth the Boards, and the
preferred canddate met wth all Drectors
Unlever Leadershp Executve Durng 2015, 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 In partcular, the ommttee was
consulted on the appontments of raeme Ptkethly and Amanda
Sourry to the ULE and the appontment of raeme as the new hef
Fnancal Offcer wth effect from 1 October 2015 when Jean-Marc
Hut ceased to be an Executve Drector and hence ceased to hold
executve offce
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, whlst gender s
an mportant part of dversty, 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 50% of our Non-Executve Drectors
are women
ORPORATE OVERNANE DEVELOPMENTS
The ommttee revews relevant proposed legslaton and
changes to relevant corporate governance codes at least twce a
year It carefully consders whether and how the proposed laws/
rules would mpact upon Unlever and whether Unlever should
partcpate n consultatons on the proposed changes
For example, durng 2015 the subect of benefcal ownershp
transparency and the new proposed legslaton n the Unted
Kngdom were consdered by the ommttee as was the progress
of the European Shareholder Rghts Drectve
EVALUATION
As part of the nternal Board evaluaton carred out n 2015,
the Boards evaluated the performance of the ommttee The
ommttee also carred out an assessment of ts own performance
n 2015 Whlst overall the ommttee members concluded that
the ommttee s performng well, the ommttee has agreed to
further enhance ts effectveness by developng the ppelne of
potental (Non-Executve and Executve) Drector canddates
Feke Sbesma
har of the Nomnatng and orporate
overnance ommttee
Laura ha
Mchael Treschow
65Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015 Governance