Q&A: Unilever Executive On Giving Back to Community

Jim Breach, vice president of customer development and team lead at Unilever, has spent his entire career with the company.

A native of Canada, he joined Unilever right after graduating from Eastern Michigan University. He and his wife and three children have made 11 moves during his 29 years with the company, during which time he has worked in field sales, marketing and planning and strategy.

He was based in Bentonville from 2004 to 2007, running the Unilever food business. He returned and has been leading the 100-plus-person team here since 2009.

Unilever is the major sponsor of “Youth of the Year,” the annual dinner honoring young people involved with the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County. In a recent interview, Breach talked about Unilever’s involvement with the organization and the importance of suppliers giving back to the community.

How did Unilever get involved with the Boys & Girls Club?

“Unilever has been involved nationally with Boys & Girls Clubs for quite some time. It started through our Dove brand and the Dove ‘Girls Self-Esteem’ program, which aligned perfectly with the values of the Boys and Girls Club, whose motto is ‘Great Futures Start Here.’ Their mission is to provide children with a safe place for after-school and summer programs. It’s not a place that provides care-taking, but growth and development. And the staff and the leadership at the Boys & Girls Club is all about taking these youth and giving them a wonderful environment in which to grow, and to grow as leaders.

“The Dove brand is all about conveying a positive message around self-esteem, especially to girls and young women eight to 14 years old.

“They are really looking for positive messages about self-esteem as they grow. We know statistically that 60 percent of all girls will stop doing an activity they love because of poor self-esteem. Dove initiated a discussion with woman around real beauty and what beauty stands for, and it was a natural extension to take that down to the next level around a message of self-esteem for young women. The mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs aligns perfectly with Dove’s mission.”

How did the local Unilever office get involved with the Benton County chapter?

“The first time I moved to Northwest Arkansas, back in 2004, my daughter and I were at an event at the Pea Ridge National Military Park.

“Unilever had a relationship with the national parks, doing clean-up and painting and all kinds of things. While we were there, a bus pulled up and dropped off a group of students who worked hard for eight straight hours. It was clear they weren’t just there to hang out and goof off. They never stopped working. I walked up to them afterwards and complimented them, and asked them where they were from.

“They said they were from the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County. As we were talking, the woman who was executive director at the time introduced herself and invited us to come up to the club and see what they do.

“We paid a visit to the club. I was immediately hooked on what they did, so Unilever started a relationship with the local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club. We started off by doing some volunteer work and then we did some charitable giving. We’ve built the relationship since then.”

Among other things, Unilever sponsors the organization’s annual dinner. Tell me about that event.

“The Youth of the Year is an incredible event to go to. It’s just amazing to hear the stories that these young people have and the role that the Boys and Girls Club has played in their lives, and how they’ve developed and grown as young adults and future leaders.

“It’s wonderful how the students have taken advantage of what the Boys & Girls Club provides to them. Equally amazing is how this enduring human spirit comes through when they get up and they tell their stories. It’s truly remarkable how inspired you can become from hearing the stories of these young people. Believe me, there won’t be a dry eye in the place, but not because it’s sad. Just the opposite.

“It’s a celebration.”

Is it important for Walmart suppliers to be involved with community organizations like this?

“Our corporate mission is to make sustainable living commonplace. And we have a big mission around that. But that mission starts in the community that we live in. We have over 100 people working in our office, so we’re not just vendors in the community. We’re citizens of the community. We’ve got a lot of folks that work in our office that grew up in Northwest Arkansas. The community gives a lot to Unilever and there’s a lot of need in the community as well.

“When you decide to set up shop in Northwest Arkansas, I think you have an obligation to make the community a better place. We see other vendors and especially Walmart also playing a big role in the community. We give resources as a corporation and I know a lot of our individuals give time and write checks to local charities as well. And a lot of our folks give their time and talent. For some of them it’s as simple as coaching a youth basketball team. Some serve on boards.

“One of the great things about Northwest Arkansas is that Unilever is not unique in its commitment to giving back to the community. Within the vendor community, even though in many ways and in many formats we compete with each other, we all recognize that you don’t compete when you talk about giving back to the community. A lot of my fellow team leads share the same passion and commitment to the area.

“Unilever encourages employees to be involved in the community. It’s one of the central parts of our program. We have matching gifts programs. We have opportunities to earn time off from volunteering in the community. It’s in Unilever’s DNA that we want to be great citizens of the communities that we are a part of, whether we’re running tea fields in Kenya or whether we’re running a sales office in Northwest Arkansas, it’s the same attitude and the same expectation: Make the community you live in a better place because you are there.”