Martin Grieve (pictured), managing director of Unilever Corporate Ventures at the eponymous fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, has left after nearly four years heading the corporate venturing unit to join peer Reckitt Benckiser (RB).
Olivier Garel, vice-president of mergers and acquisitions at Unilever, will replace Grieve at its corporate venturing unit.
At the end of last year, Unilever committed a further $450m to its corporate venturing unit for its third fund to help it expand in Asia and North America from Europe.
At the time of the funding commitment, Grieve, a member of the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist 100, said: “The fact Unilever is committing to our third fund is recognition we can continue delivering financial and strategic benefits for Unilever.”
Grieve added the group had focused on four sectors – personal care, refreshment, digital marketing and sustainable business – and had set up an advisory board for each of these four sectors.
Separately, Steve Meller, chief innovation catalyst at Procter & Gamble, another FMCG company, left late last year to set up consultancy Creating Dots. He has also become chairman of Waste 2 Worth, among other non-executive directorships.