Beauty and personal care
10 Unilever engineering leaders
These ten current and former Unilever engineering leaders hold or have held chief engineer, vice president, head of engineering and engineering director roles at Unilever, across business groups, regions and manufacturing excellence. A reader can learn how engineering leaders build and run their teams at Unilever.
Professionals to explore
01—10Cipto Utomo
LinkedInExperience: Engineering Director - Thailand · Unilever
Engineering Director - Thailand at Unilever since January 2026, tagged at Director level. Former Business Unit Engineering Lead - Home Care Greater Asia (2025–2026), Business Unit Engineering Lead - Home Care Southeast Asia (2022–2024) and Regional Engineering Manager - Automation & Packing Technology for Southeast Asia & Australasia (2021–2022) at Unilever.
Dave Penrith
LinkedInExperience: Chief Engineer · Unilever
Former Chief Engineer at Unilever (2017–2021), former Global Vice President Engineering- Home and Personal Care (2016–2017) and former Vice President Engineering and Technology Homecare (2014–2016) at Unilever. The profile describes leading the Unilever Engineering organisation and having worked in factory, regional and global engineering teams.
Edmund Wee, PhD
LinkedInExperience: Engineering Director - North America Cluster · Unilever
Former Engineering Director - North America Cluster at Unilever (2015–2017); the profile describes membership of the Unilever Global Engineering Leadership Council and leading the North America CAPEX program across product categories. Global VP of Engineering & Technical Innovation at Barry Callebaut Group since February 2024, and former Vice President, Engineering North America at McCain Foods (2019–2020).
Harald Gutfleisch
LinkedInExperience: Head of Engineering and ManEx Beauty and Wellbeing · Unilever
Head of Engineering and ManEx Beauty and Wellbeing at Unilever since September 2023. Former Global Engineering Green Technology and Dove Bar Lead (2022–2023), HPC Engineering Director (2017–2022) and Global PC Category Technology Director Bars Design & PC SEAA and NA Deploy (2013–2017) at Unilever.
Kelly Sheppard
LinkedInExperience: Head of Global Engineering and Manufacturing, Health & Well-being · Unilever
Head of Global Engineering and Manufacturing, Health & Well-being at Unilever since August 2022, based in Trumbull, Connecticut. Former Engineering Director, N.America BPC & HC (2020–2022) and Engineering Director, N.America Foods & Beverages (2016–2020) at Unilever.
Martin Merle
LinkedInExperience: Head of Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence Europe at Unilever · Unilever
Head of Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence Europe at Unilever since October 2025, based in Hamburg. Former Global Manufacturing Excellence Leader (2022–2025) and Plant Manager (2017–2022) at bp, and former Value Stream Manager at Procter & Gamble (2015–2017). The profile describes developing a global ManEx and competitiveness program for 20 plants in the oil and gas industry.
Neal Saiz, CSP, CHMM
LinkedInExperience: Head of Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence · Unilever
Head of Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence at Unilever since July 2022, tagged at Head level in the Engineering and Technical department. Former North America Manufacturing Excellence Director (2020–2022) and EHS Director (2013–2020) at Unilever, and former EHS Director at FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (2002–2013).
Roberto Berti
LinkedInExperience: Head of Engineering and ManEx - Personal Care LatAm · Unilever
Head of Engineering and ManEx - Personal Care LatAm at Unilever since August 2023, based in São Paulo. Former Asset Management Maintenance Director - Brazil (2021–2023), Director of Northeast Factories of Brazil - Igarassu and Suape Factories (2022–2023) and Factory Director - Panamericana Factory (2018–2020) at Unilever.
Sandra Almeida
LinkedInExperience: Beauty & Personal Care Engineering Director North America · Unilever
Former Beauty & Personal Care Engineering Director North America (2017–2020), Home & Personal Care Engineering Director (2015–2017) and Head of Engineering Projects (2022–2025) at Unilever. Technology, Innovation & Strategic Logistics Director at Unilever since November 2025; the profile describes serving as engineering director for a greenfield site project in Mexico.
Vincenzo Pavese
LinkedInExperience: Engineering Director Logistic and repacking - Europe · Unilever
Engineering Director Logistic and repacking - Europe at Unilever since April 2021, based in Belgium. Former Engineering Director Europe Physical Distribution & Co-packing (2019–2021), Engineering Director, Europe Physical Distribution & Co-packing (2015–2019) and Engineering Director, Global Co-packing operations (2011–2014) at Procter & Gamble.
Choose the right perspective
Match the person's scope to your question, since a global engineering leader, a business group head of engineering and manufacturing excellence and a country or regional engineering director see different decisions. Check whether the relevant Unilever role is current or former before asking about today's practices.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01How do you split engineering decisions between global business group teams and individual factories?
- 02How do you plan and deliver capital projects across factories in different countries?
- 03What does an equipment supplier need to show to become a standard choice across your factories?
Reaching Unilever engineering leaders
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About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot and may describe past or present roles. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.
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