Leena Nair (née Menon;born 1969) is a British-Indian business executive who is the Global

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...

. Nair previously served as the Chief Human Resource Officer of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

and member of the Unilever Leadership Executive. Nair was responsible for the human capital of Unilever, which operates across multiple regulatory and labour environments spread over 190 countries. Under her leadership, Unilever has been named the number one FMCG graduate employer of choice in 54 countries. She headed the Diversity and Inclusion agenda for the organisation ensuring that its workforce is diverse and inclusive. Nair is an advocate for human-centred workplaces and compassionate leadership.

Early life and education

Nair grew up in

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is kn ...

, Maharashtra. She studied at Holy Cross Convent High School Kohlapur, and The New College Kolhapur. After completing her bachelor's degree in electronics and telecommunication (E&TC) Engineering at

Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli Walchand College of Engineering is a college in the city of Sangli, Maharashtra, India. The WCE campus is situated on nearly 90 acres of land in Vishrambag, roughly midway between the twin cities of Sangli and Miraj. The college was establis ...

(Maharashtra), she graduated from

XLRI – Xavier School of Management XLRI – Xavier School of Management (XLRI or formerly Xavier Labour Relations Institute) is a private business school run by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India. It was founded in 1949 in the steel city of J ...

as a gold medallist (1990-1992). Apart from working in

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (, ) or Tatanagar is the largest and most populous city in Jharkhand and the first planned industrial city in India. It is a Notified Area Council and Municipal Corporation and also the headquarter of the East Singhbhum district. It ...

, she also worked at three different factories in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Ambattur Ambattur is located in northwestern part of Chennai City, in Ambattur taluk of the Chennai District, surrounded by Avadi, Anna Nagar, Padi, Mogappair, Kallikuppam, Surapet, Korattur, Ayappakkam, and Thiruverkadu. It covers an area of . The nei ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and

Taloja Taloja is a census town in Raigad district of Navi Mumbai city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is an extension of the Kharghar node and governed by Panvel Municipal Corporation. Taloja has Navi Mumbai Metro Phase I starting origin point a ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Career

Chanel

In 2016, Nair became Unilever's "first female, first Asian, youngest ever" chief human-resources officer. In December 2021, Nair was appointed chief executive officer of Chanel. She is the mentee of

Indra Nooyi Indra Nooyi (née Krishnamurthy; born October 28, 1955) is an Indian-American business executive and former chief executive officer and chairperson of PepsiCo. She has consistently ranked among the world's 100 most powerful women. In 2014, sh ...

, former CEO of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

Unilever

*2016: Appointed Chief Human Resources Officer and member of the Unilever Leadership Executive *2013: SVP HR Leadership and Organizational Development and Global Head of Diversity *2007: Executive Director HR of Hindustan Unilever Limited *1992-2007: Various roles in factories, sales and corporate headquarters in Hindustan Unilever *1992: Joined Unilever as management trainee of Hindustan Unilever

Other responsibilities

* Non-Executive Board Member – BT plc * Member of the Trust Board - Leverhulme Trust * Steering Committee member – The Future of Education, Gender and Work, WEF (2017–present) * Leadership Council Member – International Centre for Research on Women (2019 – present) * NED on the UK Government's department of Business, Energy and Industrial strategy (BEIS) (2018- 2020)

Awards and recognition

* Role Model of Year, The Great British Businesswoman's Awards (2021) * Fortune India's Most Powerful Women's List (2021) *Global Indian of the Year – The Economic Times’ Prime Women Leadership Awards (2020) * LinkedIn Top Voice (2018-2020) * Thinkers50 List – Thinkers Who Will Shape the Future of Business (2019) * Top 10 list of FT HERoes Champions of Women in Business by the Financial Times (2017-2019) * Recognized by Queen Elizabeth II as one of the accomplished Indian Business Leaders in the UK (2017)

Personal life

Nair is the daughter of K. Karthikeyan, and the cousin of industrialists Vijay Menon and Sachin Menon. She is married and has two sons. Her interests include reading, running, and Bollywood dancing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, Leena 1969 births Living people Businesswomen from Maharashtra People from Kolhapur Indian women chief executives Businesspeople from Maharashtra Indian chief executives Unilever people 21st-century Indian businesswomen 21st-century Indian businesspeople XLRI – Xavier School of Management alumni