Leena Nair, the first female and youngest-ever Chief Human Resources Officer of Anglo-Dutch FMCG major Unilever has stepped down to join French luxury group Chanel as its Global Chief Executive. “Leena Nair, CHRO, has decided to leave the company in January 2022 to pursue a new career opportunity as Global Chief Executive Officer, Chanel Ltd,” Unilever said in a statement while announcing Change to its Leadership Executive.“I would like to thank Leena for her outstanding contribution over the last three decades. 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.
Here are some little-known facts about Nair. She considers former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi her friend and mentor. “All of you know me as pretty confident. But let me tell you, there have been a couple of times I’ve asked questions to Indra… ‘am I good enough or why me’. She has given me the proverbial kick in the pants to go and get over myself and get back my confidence and given me the shake-up that all of us need from time to time,” Nair said, at the time she and Nooyi interacted, discussing the latter's memoir.
Chanel in a statement said, Nair has been given the charge of ensuring Chanel's "long term success as a private company."
Nair, who was born in Kolhapur, studied engineering at Walchand College in Sangli. She then pursued MBA in Human Resources from XLRI, Jamshedpur, from where she graduated with a gold medal. She began her career at Unilever as a management trainee. She was with the company for almost 30 years. Nair, in an Instagram post, has written that the best career advice she got was from her college professor. "One of the best pieces of advice I ever had was before my career even began, from my college professor who sat me down and said, 'You know what, you’re going to make a pretty lousy engineer. But I think you have a flair for management. You like being with people,” she wrote.
In 1996, Nair was appointed as employee relations manager by HUL, and in 2000, was elevated as HR manager. She became "the first female, first Asian, youngest ever" chief human resources officer of Unilever. In 2016, she joined Unilever Leadership Executive.
She tweeted after her appointment by Chanel: ”I am so inspired by what @CHANEL stands for. It is a company that believes in the freedom of creation, in cultivating human potential and in acting to have a positive impact in the world.”
--With PTI inputs
