Leena Nair

Leena Nair (née Menon, born 1969) is a British-Indian business executive who is the Global CEO of Chanel. Nair previously served as the Chief Human Resource Officer of Unilever 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. Nair is an advocate for human-centred workplaces and compassionate leadership. Early life and education Nair was born on June 11, 1969, in Kolhapur, Maharashtra in a Hindu family. 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 (Maharashtra), she graduated from XLRI – Xavier School of Management as a gold medallist (1990-1992). Apart from working in Jamshedpur, she also worked at three different factories in Kolkata, Ambattur, Tamil Nadu and Taloja, Maharashtra. Career Unilever Nair first joined Unilever as a summer intern and then became a management trainee of Hindustan Unilever in 1992. Between 1992 and 2007, she took various roles in factories, sales and corporate headquarters in Hindustan Unilever. In 2007, she became Executive Director HR of Hindustan Unilever Limited.