The Unilever chair, Ian Meakins, thanked Schumacher for “resetting Unilever’s strategy, for the focus and discipline he has brought to the company and for the solid financial progress delivered during 2024”.
The Unilever chief executive, Hein Schumacher, has stepped down after just over a year and a half in the job and will be succeeded by the consumer goods company’s finance chief.
In a surprise announcement, the maker of Knorr, Marmite, Dove and Ben & Jerry’s said Schumacher would relinquish the role on 1 March and leave the company on 31 May.
Marmite, Dove and Ben & Jerry’s maker says chief financial officer Fernando Fernandez will take over from March.
Fernando Fernandez, the company’s chief financial officer, has been promoted to chief executive from the start of March.
