Leena Nair

From Unilever people pioneer to CEO of Chanel

Leena Nair is a woman of many firsts. As well as being the first female, first Asian and youngest ever CHRO at Unilever, she was the first female in nearly all roles she held at the consumer goods giant over three decades – including the first female manager to opt for a factory stint, the first to work a night shift, and the first woman in Unilever’s Management Committee in 90 years.

But the Indian-born British national wasn’t done pioneering. After three decades with Unilever, five as CHRO, 53-year-old Leena was tapped, in January 2022, by Chanel for the French luxury group’s top job, a move that secured her two further firsts – the first luxury brand CEO of Indian origin and the first from an HR background.

While considered an outsider in the field of luxury fashion, Leena’s appointment as Global CEO of the storied French fashion house was seen as a master stroke by Chanel to drive diversity in an industry that has been criticised for its distinct lack thereof.

“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 Leena took centre stage in the building of Unilever into a purpose-led, future-fit organisation, one that has become the employer of choice in more than 50 countries worldwide.

As Unilever CEO Alan Jope put it upon announcing her departure from Unilever: “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.”

33%

The percentage by which Leena improved productivity levels at Unilever within two years of embedding performance culture as a way of life for the firm

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 Leena’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 it has been Leena’s leadership, driving the diversity and inclusion agenda for the company’s workforce, that created such an industry-leading culture.

Under her tenure, as CHRO, Unilever achieved a 50/50 gender balance across global leadership with Leena leading a pioneering agenda with bold new social commitments, including recent pledges to pay the living wage across its entire supply chain by 2030, and equip 10 million young people with essential skills by 2030.

She created numerous projects, many of which were pioneering the future of global work. She spearheaded the Unilever ‘discover your purpose’ workshops, catering to 6,000 employees to date; pioneered the four-day week pilot programme currently being explored in New Zealand; instigated the U-Work program, which joins the flexibility of contact work with the security and benefits of an in-house role; and initiated U-Renew, a paid learning sabbatical programme to help workers upskill, currently under test.

Throughout her career at Unilever, Leena innovated in the delivery of culture-rich programmes, having previously initiated as Unilever’s VP of HR for South Asia the Career by Choice programme, to help women who’d fallen off the career ladder to re-join the workforce.