Unilever has tapped Mike Polk to succeed John Rice as its top executive for North and South America early next year.
Polk will become President Americas in March 2007 when Rice retires. Polk is now president of Unilever U.S. and group vice president for its global parent, Unilever N.V. He has been at Unilever for three years.
Polk joined Unilever in 2003 after 16 years at Kraft, where he held a number of top marketing posts.
Rice has been with Unilever for 25 years. He took the post of President Americas last year, after three years as president and CEO of Unilever’s North American operations (then Unilever Bestfoods) and Slim-Fast.
Unilever’s sales in North and South America have been outpacing its overall sales. Sales in the Americas were up 5.6% to $12.9 billion for the first nine months of 2006. Worldwide sales rose only 3% to $37 billion.
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