Dave Lewis
Dave Lewis has had a long career at Unilever, starting in 1987 and moving through different roles in home and personal care in Europe, South America and Asia before being appointed to UEX in 2010.
Dave joined Unilever from Trent Polytechnic in 1987, starting as a marketing trainee for Lever Brothers, based in Kingston, UK. He held various brand marketing and customer management roles in home and personal care, which included launching Dove in the UK in 1992, and became company operations manager in 1993.
In 1996, he moved to South America, working in the laundry category and overseeing Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. He led a period of growth and innovation in household care across the Latin America region, with innovation being built into a key strength of the region.
His next move was to Indonesia in 1999, as Managing Director of Unilever Indonesia’s personal care business, with overall responsibility for innovation in all personal care categories across the whole of South East Asia. Political unrest and hyperinflation made business conditions particularly challenging, but the business continued to innovate under his leadership and saw an average growth of 30% a year.
Dave took the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard University and then served as Senior Vice President for Home and Personal Care, Central and Eastern Europe for three years before returning to the UK and his Kingston roots in 2005 as Managing Director of the UK home and personal care business. In 2007 he became Chairman of Unilever UK, as the company consolidated its three separate operating companies – foods, home and personal care, and ice cream – into a single business as part of its One Unilever programme. He was appointed President of the Americas in 2010.
