Patrick Cescau (born 27 September 1948) is a French businessman and a former chief executive of
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
. He was the first combined chief executive of the English (originally
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...
) and Dutch parts (originally
Margarine Unie
Naamloze Vennootschap Margarine Unie (English: Margarine Union Limited) was a Dutch company formed in 1927 in Oss by the merger of four margarine companies, Antoon Jurgens United, Van den Bergh's, Centra, and Schicht's. Margarine Unie was the dom ...
) of Unilever. Since 2013, he has been the chairman of the
InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the F ...
.
Early life
Cescau was born on 27 September 1948 in Paris.
He was the son of Louise and Pierre Cescau.
He earned a degree in business from
ESSEC Business School
The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 1907 ...
in 1971.
He subsequently earned an MBA from
INSEAD
INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...
.
Career
Cescau joined Unilever France in 1973.
In 1980 he became financial controller of Unilever Germany at Union Deutsche Lebensmittelwerke in Hamburg, which makes the Sanella margarine. From 1984 to 1986 he was based in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
. From 1986 to 1989 he was financial controller of
Unilever Indonesia
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
. From 1989 to 1991 he was at Unilever Portugal.
Unilever Portugal
/ref>
In 1999, Cescau became finance director of Unilever. In August 2000 Unilever announced it would split into two divisions – one for food, and the other for personal care
Personal care or toiletries are consumer products used in personal hygiene, personal grooming or for beautification.
Products
Personal care includes products as diverse as cleansing pads, colognes, cotton swabs, cotton pads, deodorant, eye lin ...
products – whereby in January 2001 he became the Foods Division director (president, food), and Keki Dadiseth became in charge of the personal care division. Alexander Kemner had been in charge of its foods division.
In October 2004, Cescau became chairman of Unilever PLC, staying until April 2005. From April 2005 to 31 December 2008, he was group chief executive of Unilever Group, the third biggest food company in the world. In February 2005 it had been announced that both the Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V. groups would be led by a single chief executive, of which he was chosen, stationed at Unilever House
Unilever House is a listed building, Grade II listed office building in the Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical Art Deco style, located on New Bridge Street, Victoria Embankment in Blackfriars, London, Blackfriars, London. The building has ...
in London.
Cescau served on the board of directors of Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England.
It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s.J. A. Spende ...
from 2002 to 2012, and Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
from 2009 to 2015. Since 2013, he has served as the chairman of the InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the F ...
.
Cescau was awarded a knighthood of the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
in 2005.
Personal life
Cescau married Ursula Kadansky in 1974. They have a son and daughter, and they live in Chelsea, London.
References
External links
IHG
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cescau, Patrick
1948 births
Living people
Businesspeople from Paris
ESSEC Business School alumni
French chief executives
French corporate directors
French expatriates in England
INSEAD alumni
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
People from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Tesco people
Unilever people
InterContinental Hotels Group people
20th-century French businesspeople
21st-century French businesspeople