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 woman 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 in Unilever’s Management Committee in 90 years.

But the Indian-born British national wasn’t done trailblazing. 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 is 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.

Leena Nair – achievements as CHRO of Unilever

With overall responsibility, as CHRO, for the company’s 150,000-strong human capital across 190 countries, 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$50.7 billion) and purpose.

Considered 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, Unilever has been 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; in large part thanks to Leena’s leadership, driving the diversity and inclusion agenda for the company’s workforce.

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 contract 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 has innovated in the delivery of culture-rich programmes, having previously initiated the Career by Choice programme, as Unilever’s VP of HR for South Asia, designed to help women who've fallen off the career ladder re-join the workforce.

"Being the first woman in every single job I have done means I get to see just what it means to be in a job that feels built for someone else," she told Harper’s Bazaar magazine in 2021. "I always say, 'We're all in the same storm, we're not in the same boat'. My experiences have made me incredibly conscious of wanting the workplace to work for everyone and knowing that means catering to individual circumstances."