Unilever Consolidates Marketing Oversight, Expands Leandro Barreto's CMO Role

Unilever is restructuring its marketing function so that a single leader has greater ownership over efforts within its business groups. 

As such, Leandro Barreto will have an expanded role, taking on Unilever's enterprise-wide marketing strategy. He was previously chief marketing officer solely for the company's beauty and wellbeing division. His new title will be CMO of Unilever and beauty and wellbeing, beginning on Jan. 1. 

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As part of this transition, Esi Eggleston Bracey — the company's chief growth and marketing officer — will depart the company after working with Unilever for eight years. 

Barreto has 20 years of experience with the company. His tenure includes overseeing the strategy for Dove, co-founding several internal brand incubators, and leading large-scale digital transformations and innovation pipelines. Throughout his career, Barreto has consistently integrated data analytics to drive market expansion in roles like VP of global marketing for the skin cleansing and baby care category, according to LinkedIn. 

Fernando Fernandez, Unilever CEO, said in a statement that the leadership shift will help " turn Unilever into a true marketing and sales machine.”

Similarly, Hormel just created an enterprise-wide marketing leadership role, hiring Jason Levine as part of efforts to strengthen its consumer-centric strategy.