Unilever recruited Michael Polk away from Kraft Foods in 2003, giving him his first taste of leading a business unit at one of the largest consumer goods companies on the planet. He started by running the company’s USA Foods operation, a proving ground that set up a fast string of promotions over the following years.
By 2006, Polk had been named president of the Americas, a role that put him in charge of every Unilever brand and operation across both North and Latin America. Managing a region that spanned dozens of countries and currencies required more than commercial instinct. Polk introduced what became known internally as the One Unilever operating model, an approach meant to tighten commercial execution across the fragmented region.
Strengthening Margins While Speeding Up Growth
The One Unilever model paid off in two ways at once. It helped speed up growth across the Americas business while also lifting operating margins, a combination that is often difficult for large multinational companies to achieve at the same time. The results caught the attention of Unilever’s global leadership and, eventually, outside boards as well.
In 2010, Polk moved to Unilever’s London headquarters to take on an even broader mandate as president of Global Food, Home and Personal Care. In that post he oversaw category planning and innovation across the company’s entire portfolio, not just a single region. The role gave him a genuinely global view of the business just one year before his next career move.
That same year, Michael Polk Newell Brands had already joined the board of directors at Newell Rubbermaid, a connection that would soon turn into something bigger. In 2011, the company asked him to leave Unilever entirely and become its president and chief executive officer, a decision that would define the next chapter of Michael Polk’s career.
Looking back, the Unilever stretch reads like a rehearsal for what came next. Running the Americas taught Polk how to unify a sprawling regional business under one operating approach, and the London posting broadened that view to a global scale across food, home, and personal care categories. Both experiences gave him a template he would soon apply on his own terms. Read this article for more information.
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