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Business leader, climate and equalities campaigner.

You either make the dust, or you eat the dust.

I was one of six children born in the Netherlands. My mother was a teacher and my father had an administrative job in a tyre factory. They taught us that success isn’t about accumulating wealth—it’s about serving others. Having lived through a terrible war that took opportunities away, they simply wanted a better life for their six children. Values like dignity and respect, equity and compassion guided them.

After a bachelors in economics in the Netherlands, I finished my graduate studies MA and MBA in Economics and Business in America at the University of Cincinnati.

I worked for three great companies in the years that followed: Procter & Gamble, Nestle, and Unilever – all built to last. I learnt the power of creating lasting value through business models driven by clear values, and I learnt that serving all your stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers, local communities, the planet and even future generations – is the best way to also ultimately serve your shareholders and build thriving companies over the long-term.

I was CEO of Unilever between 2009-19. Working with a tremendous team, we showed that responsible business models can go hand-in-hand with strong performance, raising top and bottom line growth, outperforming the industry, and increasing shareholder returns by 290% while the company consistently ranked first in the world for sustainability and one of the best places to work.