Distinguished Speaker Series: Mr Paul Polman
About the speaker
Mr Paul Polman
Co-Founder and Chair of IMAGINE, and former CEO of Unilever
Paul is Co-founder and Chair of IMAGINE, a benefit corporation and foundation accelerating business leadership to achieve the Global Goals.
He is also Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, The B Team, Saïd Business School and The Valuable 500, and Vice-Chair of the U.N. Global Compact.
He was CEO of Unilever for a decade where he demonstrated that a long-term, multi-stakeholder model goes hand-in-hand with good financial performance. During his tenure, Unilever was one of the best-performing companies in its sector, delivering ten years of consistent top and bottom line growth.
Paul was appointed to the U.N. Secretary General’s High-level Panel that developed the Sustainable Development Goals and has played a leading role since in highlighting the business case for the 2030 development agenda, including as a founder member of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission. He remains a U.N.-appointed SDG Advocate.
Paul engages across industry sectors and global organisations to maximise impact, including as a member of FCLTGlobal, the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate and the Food and Land Use Coalition, which he chairs.
He has received numerous awards, including the Rainforest Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award, the U.N. Environment Programme’s Champion of the Earth Award and the Oslo Business for Peace Award.
He has been honoured with France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, and was named an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to business. He is a recipient of the Public Service Star from the Government of Singapore and received the Treaty of Nijmegen medal.
He founded the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust with Kim Polman, working to improve the lives of blind and visually impaired children in East Africa. He also supports and mentors’ young leaders as a Counsellor and Chair of the Global Advisory Board of One Young World.
About Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership 2020 Winter School Distinguished Speaker Series
Hear from the leaders of Unilever, IBM, McKinsey, Dow and others during this exclusive, thought-provoking webinar series.
The onset of COVID-19 has brought increased focus to the need for leadership, innovation and decision-making under uncertainty.
The inaugural Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership Winter School in July 2020 will welcome a number of distinguished international business leaders.
Introduced by the Academy’s Founding Donor Andrew N. Liveris AO, UQ’s talented Liveris Scholars will interview our esteemed speakers who will share their insights into these topics, including how their organisations have responded to the COVID-19 crisis, as well as what they consider to be the opportunities and priorities for global leadership in the 21st Century.
This event is only available to UQ staff and students. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants prior to the event.
Registrations close 4pm Monday 13 July 2020.