French fashion house Chanel has appointed Leena Nair, former chief human resources officer of FMCG major Unilever, as its global CEO. Nair is a rare pick by the family-controlled group that sells luxury clothing and bags. It is owned by French billionaire Alain Wertheimer and his brother Gerard Wertheimer. Once Nair takes on the role in January 2022, Alain will move to the role of global executive chairman, Reuters reported. Nair will be based in London.

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Who is Leena Nair?

Born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, 52-year-old Nair finished her schooling from Holy Cross Convent School in her hometown. She then studied electronics engineering from Walchand College of Engineering in Sangli. Later, she pursued management studies from XLRI, Jamshedpur, from where she graduated with a gold medal.

Also Read: Chanel appoints Unilever executive Leena Nair as global CEO

Unilever stint

A member of Unilever’s executive committee, Nair was with the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods veteran for 30 years. The Indian-born British national joined Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) as a trainee in 1992 after graduating from XLRI-Jamshedpur.

In 1993, she was appointed at Lipton (India) Ltd as the factory personnel manager. In the factory role, she worked at Tamil Nadu's Ambattur, West Bengal's Kolkata and Maharashtra's Taloja units.

She rose to the rank of employee relations manager in 1996 and in four years was elevated to HR manager of HUL India.

In 2004, Nair became the HR general manager of HUL’s 'home and personal care India'. Within two years, she rose to become the HR general manager.

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In 2007, Nair assumed the charge of HR executive director in the company and Unilever's senior vice-president of HR in 2013.

In 2016, Nair became the first female, youngest-ever and first Asian to be elevated as the chief human resources officer (CHRO).

"Leena has been a pioneer throughout her career at Unilever, but no more so than in her role as CHRO," Alan Jope, Unilever CEO said while announcing Nair's exit from the company.

Other roles

Nair is also a member of the board of the Leverhulme Trust and non-executive member of British Telecom. Earlier, she also held the post of a non-executive director in the British government’s business, energy and industrial strategy department, reported Economic Times.

Former Chanel CEO

Till 2016, US businesswoman Maureen Chiquet was the CEO of Chanel for nine years. Prior to joining Chanel, Chiquet worked at Gap, Inc for over a decade and L’Oreal Paris. She is said to have left Channel in 2016 following “differences of opinion about the strategic direction of the company”. Since then, 73-year-old Alain Wertheimer steered the company as the CEO on a temporary basis. Chiquet, on the other hand, has become the independent director on the board of Credo, a pioneer in the clean beauty products.

Also Read: Unilever to sell tea business to CVC Capital

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Dec 15, 2021 4:52 PM IST