After Indra Nooyi, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and Parag Agrawal, here comes another major appointment of an Indian to a top management position of a global brand- French luxury group Chanel welcomes Leena Nair on board as its Global Chief Executive.
I am humbled and honoured to be appointed the Global Chief Executive Officer of @CHANEL, an iconic and admired company.
— Leena Nair (@LeenaNairHR) December 14, 2021
With an illustrious career spanning over three decades at Unilever, which she joined in 1992 as a management trainee, Nair will step down from her position at Unilever to take up the coveted position at Chanel, in London. The first woman and youngest ever Chief Human resources Officer at Unilever, she oversaw 1.5 lakh employees and was a part of their executive team.
“Leena has been a pioneer throughout her career at Unilever, but no more so than in her role as CHRO, where she has been a driving force on our equity, diversity and inclusion agenda, on the transformation of our leadership development, and on our preparedness for the future of work,” Unilever CEO Alan Jope said while announcing her exit.
An alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur, Nair will join the company in early 2022. Her announcement to the position has come at a time the company is going transformation to deal with the pandemic-induced slug. Even the company’s decision to introduce someone from the non-fashion background is hailed as its effort to exhibit inclusive growth.
Leena Nair, an Indian-origin British citizen, was featured in Fortune magazine’s 2021 list of most powerful women. She states “When you look after your people, they will look after the business”. She is the second woman after Pepsico’s former chief Indra Nooyi to take over as a global company’s CEO.
An advocate for human-centered workplaces and compassionate leadership, Nair will succeed Alain Wertheimer, the grandson of Chanel co-founder Pierre Wertheimer.
The 52-year old loves sharing snippets of her experiences and advice related to work and life on social media.
Here’s wishing her all the very best in her new role.
