Willem Uijen ’ s career at Unilever spans over 23 years , having first joined the organisation in 1999 as a trainee engineer . Since then , he has worked across numerous supply chain disciplines including logistics , manufacturing , customer service and distribution , and planning .

In September 2022 , Uijen was appointed Chief Procurement Officer , where he is responsible for the procurement of all goods and services globally , supporting the creation of 400 brands sold in over 190 countries .

Prior to his current role , Uijen was the Executive Director of Supply Chain at Hindustan Unilever , India ’ s largest FMCG company , and the Head of Supply Chain across South Asia , Southeast Asia , and Australasia . During this time , he led Unilever ’ s Supply Chain in the region through a transformation journey focused on agility and resilience and passionately drove a sustainability agenda which resulted in Hindustan Unilever becoming plastic neutral in 2021 .

Before that , Uijen held several leadership positions within Unilever , including VP for Unilever Mexico and the Caribbean Supply Chain , VP for Home Care Supply Chain Latin America and VP for Unilever Home Care Supply Chain .

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