Master of Business (International Marketing), 1998; Bachelor of Business (Marketing), 1995
UTS Business School Award
With great power comes great responsibility. Unilever CEO Nicky Sparshott firmly believes in the power of business to use its global reach to do good – for people and the planet.
This belief and interest in the intersection of business and activism – being good and doing good – grew in Nicky from an early age where she married her love for trading with her equal passion for advocating with Greenpeace & on Aboriginal land rights.
Following roles with Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company and George Patterson Y&R, Nicky joined Unilever in 2006. Since 2020 she’s been the CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand. Using this platform, Nicky has played the role of agitator and accelerator, looking to drive a strong triple bottom line imperative locally, driving profitable growth whilst simultaneously having a regenerative impact on the planet and building a more socially inclusive society. She’s proudly helped Unilever ANZ earn Certified B Corp status – something she also did as the former Global CEO of T2.
Nicky credits the international exposure her two UTS degrees provided for inspiring her curiosity in how overseas businesses operate. Travelling to countries such as China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil and the Czech Republic, Nicky was able to see how the nuances and complexities of politics, religion and environment impact how companies serve people.
Nicky also benefitted greatly from the real-world experience of UTS professors and guest speakers, who generously shared their time and knowledge with students. Now in a position to do the same, Nicky is a member of the UTS Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Board and hopes to inspire the curiosity of the next generation of responsible business leaders.
I love that a commitment to sustainability is a competitive advantage for us, but it shouldn’t be. We want to set an example around business as a true force for good and enable the ceiling to be raised for the industry overall.