TRAILBLAZER
Leena
Nair
The first female , first Asian and youngestever CHRO of Unilever , Leena Nair is now taking her passion for people to Chanel as she leads the fashion house into 2022
Leena Nair is a woman of many firsts . As well as being the first female , first Asian and youngest ever CHRO of Unilever , she has been the first female in nearly all roles she held at the consumer goods giant over the last three decades – including the first female manager to opt for a factory stint and the first woman in Unilever ’ s Management Committee in 90 years .
But the Indian-born British national is not done yet . After three decades with Unilever , five as CHRO , Nair has been tapped by Chanel for the French luxury group ’ s top job , making her the first luxury brand CEO of Indian origin and the first from an HR background .
“ Nair has built a global reputation for progressive and human-centred leadership , delivering significant business impact ,” Chanel said in its statement announcing her hire .
It ’ s certainly true that Nair has been critical in the building of Unilever into a purpose-led , futurefit organisation , one that has become the employer of choice in more than 50 countries worldwide .
As Unilever CEO Alan Jope puts it : “ 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 .”
Leena Nair – achievements as CHRO of Unilever You would think that having overall responsibility as CHRO for the company ’ s 150,000-strong human capital across 190 countries would have been achievement enough , but Nair ’ s strong leadership , HR expertise , and passion for people was instrumental in helping to drive the continued growth of both Unilever ’ s profits ( US $ 50.7bn ) and its purpose .
Unilever is one of the world ’ s most socially conscious companies , scoring a best-in-class rating on S & P Global Rating ’ s ESG Evaluation in 2019 , and crowned industry leader in personal products with continued scores of 90 + in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index since 2016 .
It is also one of the world ’ s most diverse and inclusive , and it has been Nair ’ s leadership on this in particular that has created such an industryleading culture .
14 February 2022