Jean-Marc Huët to leave Unilever in October and Graeme Pitkethly to Succeed Him as Chief Financial Officer
20 May 2015 --- Unilever announced that its Chief Financial Officer, Jean-Marc Huët, has decided to step down from his role and the Boards of Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V. Huët, 46, who joined Unilever in January 2010, will leave Unilever with effect from 1 October 2015.
Huët will remain in his role through this period to ensure a smooth and orderly transition to his successor.
Unilever also announced that Graeme Pitkethly will succeed Huët as Chief Financial Officer with effect from 1 October 2015. Pitkethly will become a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive on 1 October 2015 and he will be proposed for election to the Boards of Unilever N.V. and PLC at the Annual General Meetings in April 2016.
Pitkethly, 48, joined Unilever in 2002 and is currently Executive Vice President of the Unilever UK and Ireland business and prior to this he has held a number of senior financial roles within Unilever, including Head of M&A, Head of Treasury, Pensions and Tax and Chief Financial Officer of Unilever Indonesia. Prior to his current role Pitkethly was the Senior Vice President Finance of the Global Markets Operation. He brings considerable internal and external experience to the role having spent the earlier part of his career in senior corporate finance roles.
Huët said: “I have had an excellent and very rewarding period of time at Unilever and fully achieved what I set out to do when I joined the organisation in 2010. I am delighted with the progress Unilever has made over the past five and a half years and particularly the work we have done to strengthen the overall Finance function. I am now looking forward to ensuring a seamless transition to my successor, Graeme Pitkethly, and then spending some time deciding what new opportunities to pursue”.
Michael Treschow, Chairman of Unilever, said: “I greatly appreciate Jean-Marc’s contributions, both as Unilever’s Chief Financial Officer and as a fellow board member and I wish him every success in the future”.
Paul Polman, Chief Executive of Unilever, said: “I would like to thank Jean-Marc for the contributions he has made over the past five and a half years. As a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive and Unilever’s Board of Directors he has played an important role in helping to steer Unilever through one of its most successful periods. Importantly, he has helped to build and strengthen Unilever’s standing with the financial community and has spent considerable time in developing a strong internal talent pipeline, which is reflected in the appointment of Graeme Pitkethly. He leaves Unilever with the Group in sound financial health and with the Finance function significantly revitalised. We all wish him every success in the future.
We welcome Graeme as Unilever’s Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive as of 1 October 2015. His broad financial experience, deep operating knowledge and track-record in both business and people development make him an ideal addition to help Unilever through the next stages of its transformation to a sustainable competitive and profitable company in its industry.”
Section 430 (2B) of the Companies Act 2006
On 18 May 2015 Jean-Marc Huët resigned as Chief Financial Officer and as an Executive Director of Unilever, with effect from 1 October 2015.
The information required to be made available pursuant to Section 430 (2B) of the Companies Act 2006 in respect of Jean-Marc Huët’s employment and remuneration is set out below and will be available in the Investor Relations’ section of our corporate website, www.unilever.com:
1. Jean-Marc Huët will remain an employee and an Executive Director of Unilever until 1 October 2015 when his employment will terminate (Termination Date). During this period he will assist the Company with an orderly transition and handover of responsibilities and will continue to receive his base salary, fixed allowance and contractual benefits in the normal way.
2. On ceasing to be employed by Unilever Jean-Marc Huët will be entitled to receive:
- a discretionary Annual Bonus in respect of 2015 pro-rated to the Termination Date and paid in the normal way in March 2016 based on Unilever’s Compensation Committee’s assessment of the performance of the business and Jean-Marc Huët’s own performance.
- a payment of £31,800 in lieu of 2016 tax return preparation and advisory services (equal to the actual 2014 cost to Unilever as previously disclosed).
- 2013 GSIP and MCIP awards vesting on 18 February 2016 pro-rata to Jean-Marc Huët’s actual length of service within the vesting period. All other unvested GSIP and MCIP share awards (2014 and 2015) will lapse on the Termination Date.
3. Jean-Marc Huët has re-affirmed pre-existing post-termination restrictions:
- without the prior written consent of Unilever, not be unreasonably withheld, Jean-Marc Huët shall not before 1 April 2016, work for or be engaged by, or otherwise be involved with any material competitors, suppliers, customers or partners of the Company or of any member of the Unilever Group.
- Jean-Marc Huët shall not, for a period of 12 months following the Termination Date, directly or indirectly solicit, hire or entice away from the Company or any member of the Unilever Group any specified employee.
