Unilever’s Leena Nair chosen CEO of Luxury brand Chanel
The luxury fashion house Chanel has chosen Leena Nair, an industry outsider from India and longtime executive at Unilever, to be its new CEO.
I am humbled and honoured to be appointed the Global Chief Executive Officer of @CHANEL, an iconic and admired company.
— Leena Nair (@LeenaNairHR) December 14, 2021
Nair said in a Twitter post that she was "humbled and honoured to be appointed the Global Chief Executive Officer of @CHANEL, an iconic and admired company." The news made a huge splash in India, Nair's birthplace on Wednesday, where she received scores of congratulations and compliments to her announcement, one calling her a "serial glass-ceiling breaker." While Nair, 52, is not a part of the Paris fashion scene, Chanel has a wide range of products in addition to its fashion designs. Nair is succeeding billionaire co-owner and chairman of privately-held Chanel, Alain Wertheimer, as CEO. A grandson of Chanel co-founder Pierre Wertheimer, he remains as global executive chairman of the fashion house. British consumer goods giant Unilever describes Nair as its first woman, first Asian and youngest-ever chief human resources officer. She joined Unilever in 1992 in India and advanced up the ranks, spending time at the company's factories early on. Nair is due to step into her new role in January. Her appointment is seen back home as a sign of the rising stature of Indian business leaders, especially women. But she is not the first woman to be CEO of Chanel. Earlier, Francoise Montenay and American Maureen Chiquet held that role. And of course, the co-founder of Maison de Chanel was a woman, the late Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. In her social media posts, Nair has described India-born former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi as a friend and mentor. Nair herself recently was awarded the Great British Businesswoman Role Model of the Year award. Nair is married to financial entrepreneur Kumar Nair and has two sons.
Source: RSS/AP
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