Paul Polman is a business leader and climate and equalities campaigner who firmly believes that incremental CSR efforts geared towards being “less bad” by companies are not enough anymore. Co-author of “Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take”, he is providing businesses with a new method to success. Former CEO of Unilever, Paul is now available to speak at a wide range of events on sustainability, climate change, and other related topics.
Educated at the University of Groningen and the University of Cincinnati, Paul joined Proctor & Gamble where he worked for over 25 years in various roles. He then assumed the responsibility as Chief Financial Officer for Nestle, later becoming the CEO of Unilever, a role he managed for 10 years. Today Paul works at the intersection of global business, government, and civil society, to further efforts in solving climate change and inequality. He has been a Member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on the post-2015 Development Agenda and is currently a Sustainable Development Goals Advocate at the UN.
Paul holds several prestigious posts in a myriad of organisations such as Chair of the Global Advisory Board at One Young World, Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, The Valuable 500, and Vice Chair of the United Nations Global Compact. In 2019 he became the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of IMAGINE and has also been the Global Commissioner of the New Climate Economy at the World Resources Institute. In 2024, Paul featured in the Netflix documentary "Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy". For his extraordinary career, Paul has won several accolades, including being appointed OBE in 2018.
Recipient of the INSEAD Business Leader for the World Award, Paul also received the Rainforest Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award. Working towards developing the 2020 Global Goals, Paul propagates that governments alone can’t alone fix our greatest planetary and societal challenges, and whole industries ranging from finance to fashion need to shift fast. Paul Polman, an expert on all things sustainability and business, is now available to hire for a wide range of events. Enquire now!
