Antony Burgmans (born 13 February 1947) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

businessman. Formerly non-executive

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

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 is currently chairman of paint company

AkzoNobel Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, ...

Early life and education

Born 13 February 1947,

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 ...

, Burgmans studied business administration at Nyenrode in the Netherlands, and political and social sciences at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

in Sweden. He then completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Marketing at

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

in England. In December 2003 he received an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of Laws from

Career

Burgmans joined Unilever in 1972, working as marketing assistant at

Lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or ''fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is div ...

, Netherlands on the dishwater detergent Sun. Later, he held marketing and sales positions in the company's detergents businesses in Indonesia and the Netherlands. In 1982, he was appointed marketing and sales director of Lever in the Netherlands and in 1985, became marketing director of Lever Germany. Three years later, he was appointed chairman of PT Unilever Indonesia. In 1991, he became director of Unilever with responsibility for personal care products. Burgmans took over responsibility for Ice Cream and Frozen Foods - Europe in May 1994 and, later that year, was appointed chairman of the Europe Committee, which co-ordinates Unilever's European activities. In October 1998, he was appointed vice chairman of Unilever N.V. and became chairman of Unilever N.V in May 1999. In May 2005, Burgmans was elected chairman Unilever N.V. and PLC. In January 2007, it was announced that he would be replaced by

Michael Treschow Niels Michael Aage Treschow (born April 22, 1943) is a Swedish businessman. As chairman of the board of both Unilever since 2007 and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, and former chairman of Ericsson, Treschow is one of the most influenti ...

upon standing down as Chairman in May 2007. In May 2017, an Amsterdam court rejected attempts by investors to remove Burgmans from the chairmanship of

Akzo Nobel Akzo Nobel N.V., stylized as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countrie ...

. Burgmans was seen as an obstacle to a takeover bid for the company form PPG.

Other positions

Burgmans also serves as member of the Supervisory Board of

ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

, a member of the International Advisory Board of

Allianz Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. The ...

and a non-executive director of BP. He is also co-chairman of the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) and chairman of the Supervisory Boards of, WWF-Netherlands, the Mauritshuis Museum in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

and the

Dutch National Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

.Antony Burgmans profile
at the WWF website.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgmans, Antony 1947 births Living people Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of Bowland College, Lancaster Businesspeople from Rotterdam Nyenrode Business University alumni Stockholm University alumni Chairmen of Unilever Directors of BP Dutch chief executives in the food industry