Unilever’s Geoff McDonald joins Burson-Marsteller with corporate purpose remit

Burson-Marsteller has appointed Geoff McDonald, Unilever’s former global VP of HR for marketing, comms, sustainability and global talent, as a senior advisor on corporate purpose and organisational change.

B-M11

McDonald (pictured) spent 25 years at Unilever, working with CEO Paul Polman and chief marketing, comms and sustainability officer Keith Weed on the company’s strategy to double growth, while reducing its  environmental footprint and enhancing social impact at the same time.

In his new role, McDonald will work with a team of Burson-Marsteller consultants, including the leaders of agency’s corporate purpose and change practices, to help companies and organisations “embed corporate purpose as a driver of business performance”.

Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “Burson-Marsteller has been working on the theme of corporate purpose since 2008. We believe that companies with an authentic corporate purpose, that guides both business decisions and communications, have a real competitive advantage. Our research with IMD Business School shows that a strong and well communicated corporate purpose can impact financial performance by up to 17%.

“In addition, it also strengthens a company at times of change and crisis, by providing a common vision around which to rally its key stakeholders and engage its employees. We are delighted to welcome Geoff to our team and look forward to further strengthening our leadership in this area.

McDonald added: “Business in collaboration with all its stakeholders has the power to change the world. It is therefore of critical importance that corporations understand their purpose, beyond growth and profitability, and use it as the driver of true business performance. This is what I have learned first-hand at Unilever and I am very excited to work together with a great team at Burson-Marsteller to advise and assist their clients to become more purpose driven. Our very volatile and anxious world desperately needs this.”

Related Posts
PR News in Brief
PR news round-up (19-23 November)
Here’s a round-up of this week’s PR news, featuring our CommsCon content, Curzon PR’s Farzana Baduel and senior hires at Golin, London Stansted Airport and [...]
PR News in Brief
PR news round-up (5-16 November)
Here’s a bumper round-up of the last two weeks’ PR news, featuring our CommsCon content, the PRCA National Awards and wins for Smarts Communicate and Citypress. [...]
PR News in Brief
PR news round-up (22 October – 2 November)
Here’s a bumper round-up of the last two weeks’ PR news, featuring the countdown to CommsCon, W’s acquisition of LOTUS and account wins for The Academy and [...]
PR News in Brief
PR news round-up (15-19 October)
Here’s a round-up of the week’s top PR news, featuring the Comms Revolutionist and PRWeek awards, new account wins for Munch and Stephen Waddington’s new [...]