MUMBAI: Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the country’s largest fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm, has announced key management changes Thursday, appointing Priya Nair as the first woman chief executive and managing director for the next five years beginning August 1, 2025, and replacing the incumbent Rohit Jawa.
The Kohlapur-born Nair joins the elite club of desi C-suite executives to head global organisations. Nair, born to Malayalee parents and educated in Mumbai’s Syndheham College, is currently the president for beauty and wellbeing division of the Anglo-Dutch major Unilever.
In an exchange filing, the FMCG major said Jawa who took over as the CEO and MD, in 2023, will step down as the CEO and MD on July 31, to pursue the next chapter in his personal and professional journey. Jawa was appointed as a director on the board from April 1, 2023 and was designated as EEO & MD effective June 27, 2023.
Nair is be the first woman to be the first CEO and MD of HUL in its decades of journey in the country, and join the HUL board and will continue to be a member of the Unilever leadership executive team, the company said.
"Priya has had an outstanding career in HUL and Unilever. I am certain that with her deep understanding of the Indian market and excellent track record, Priya will take HUL to the next level of performance," HUL chairman Nitin Paranjpe said in the statement in which he also thanked Jawa for “leading the business through tough market conditions and strengthening its foundations for success.”
Nair joined the company then known as Hindustan Lever in 1995 and held several sales and marketing roles across home care, beauty and wellbeing, and personal care businesses.
Her significant contributions led her to become the executive director, home care between 2014 and 2020, thereafter, the executive director of the beauty and personal care division from 2020 to 2022.
Subsequently, Nair went on to become the global chief marketing officer for the beauty and wellbeing at Unilever. Since 2023, she has had a successful tenure as the president of beauty and wellbeing, one of Unilever's fastest growing businesses.
Nair has a bachelor’s in commerce from the Sydenham College, Mumbai, and is also a post graduate in MBA in marketing from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management.
Priya is married to Manmohan, an entrepreneur; they have a 13-year old daughter Mehak.
It can be noted that HUL had a history of creating women leaders; preceding Priya Nair were Leena Nair, Prabha Narasimhan, Harman Dhillon and Anuradha Razdan among others.
Leena Nair, after being with the group for 30 years, has gone onto become the global chief executive of Chanel in January 2022. She was the chief human resources officer and also a member of their executive committee from 2016 to 2021. She started her career at Unilever as a summer intern at HUL in 1992.
Prabha Narasimhan is the managing director of Colgate-Palmolive India now after leading the home care category of HUL as the executive director and served as a member of the HUL leadership team. Narasimhan joined HUL in 2006 as a regional marketing manager. She rose through the ranks in HUL over 15 years to become executive director for home care and vice-president, home care for Unilever, South Asia. Before HUL, she had a brief stint at Madura Garments.
Harman Dhillon is the executive director of HUL’s beauty and wellbeing division and the general manager of Unilever's beauty and wellbeing division in South Asia. In May 2024, she joined HUL the management committee, after a recent rejig of leadership. Previously, as the vice-president of hair care, Dhillon built deep expertise in the hair care segment. She joined HUL in 2006 after a stint with Tata Administrative Services.
Deepika Bhan joined Tata Consumer Products in May 2021, as the president of foods business. Before she joined the Tata Group, Bhan spent 15 years at HUL, capping off her tenure there in her last role as the global brand director where she led the brand development, innovation and communication agenda for the hair care portfolio for South Asia.
Anuradha Razdan is a member of the management committee of HUL as the executive director, human resources. She is also the chief human resources officer for Unilever, South Asia. She joined HUL as a management trainee in 1999.