Unilever is scouring the market for a candidate to fill the shoes
of its top-ranking PR chief Mike Nash.
Nash, who joined the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate as a trainee in 1961, is
planning to retire early next month to live in Australia.
Unilever is offering a salary of at least #150,000 in a bid to attract a
suitable replacement.
Headhunters have already approached several senior agency personnel plus
British Airways’ outgoing director of public affairs Peter Jones.
However discussions with Jones, who is leaving BA next month, ended when
Unilever decided it didn’t want a British citizen in the role.
Nash’s job as Unilever’s London-based head of corporate relations and
head of a 30-strong team is one of the most powerful in the PR
industry.
Aside from the detergent company Lever Brothers, Unilever also owns
Birds Eye Walls, John West, Van den Burgh Foods, Calvin Klein and
Unipath.
As head of corporate relations Nash is responsible for Unilever’s
overall corporate reputation rather than product-led work which is
handled by individual PR teams.
He divides his time between the UK and the Netherlands, reporting to
Unilever’s two chairman, Niall FitzGerald in London and Morris
Tabaksblat in Rotterdam.
Nash’s department, which handles media relations, corporate
communications and government affairs, is also split equally between the
two countries.
Nash also oversees relations with agencies and wields a PR budget of
several million pounds.
During his time at Unilever he has held marketing positions in
Australia, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands, although he
did leave the company while in Australia, returning a few years later.
He was appointed head of corporate relations in 1994. ’He sees himself
as a Unilever man, rather than a straight PR man,’ said one insider. ’He
likes to keep out of the limelight.’
Nash declined to comment.
