Paul Polman, chief executive officer of the food and detergent conglomerate Unilever, will deliver the Johnson School's 2011 Lewis H. Durland Memorial Lecture, April 11, 4:30-5:40 p.m. in 305 Ives Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Polman's presentation will be "Sustainable Business Models for the 21st Century." Polman assumed his current position at Unilever, a British-Dutch multinational company, in 2009. Prior to joining Unilever, Polman was an officer of the Procter & Gamble Co. and chief financial officer and executive vice president for the Americas of Nestlé S.A. He was recognized by Investor Magazine as chief financial officer of the year for 2007.

The event will be webcast to accommodate Johnson School students who cannot attend the lecture. A group of Marketing Immersion students will be in New Jersey on April 11 but will view Polman's Cornell appearance from Unilever's North American headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

The Durland lecture series, the Johnson School's most prestigious invitational speaking engagement, is named for former University Treasurer Lewis H. Durland, who served as Cornell's chief financial officer for more than 25 years.

The lecture series was established in 1983 by Roy H. Park, the late chairman of Ithaca-based Park Communications, and a group of Cornell donors.