Leena Nair, the first female and youngest-ever Chief Human Resources Officer of FMCG major Unilever, has stepped down to join French luxury group Chanel as its Global Chief Executive.

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"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.

According to the reports, Nair, in her new position with the French luxury group Chanel, will be based in London.

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The group said that French billionaire Alain Wertheimer, who owns Chanel with his brother Gerard Wertheimer, would move to the role of Global Executive Chairman.

Maureen Chiquet was the CEO of Chanel from 2007 till 2016. She reportedly departed from Chanel in 2016 'due to differences of opinion about the strategic direction of the company'. The CEO post has been vacant since then.

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"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. She has played a critical role in building our purpose-led, future-fit organisation, which is now the employer of choice in over 50 countries globally, he added.

Nair, an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur, had joined HUL, Unilever's Indian subsidiary in 1992. She was a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive (ULE), which is responsible for delivering Unilever's business and financial performance.

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Dec 14, 2021 8:32 PM IST