Leena Nair named global CEO of French fashion house Chanel

Leena Nair, the CHRO at Unilever, has been appointed at the position of Global CEO at the international luxury giant Chanel. The 52 year old with origins in Kolhapur of Maharashtra will take charge of her new position in the coming month. Her journey from Kolhapur to Chanel will be looked up by many Indian women in the generations to come.

Kolhapur: Leena Nair, a 52-year-old native of India, has been appointed as the Global CEO of Chanel - a luxury group based in France. Prior to receiving the offer, Leena had been working as the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Unilever for the last 30 years.

She has been offered this highly regarded position on Tuesday, which she plans to accept. She will take charge as the Global CEO at Chanel in the coming year. Meanwhile, she is being lauded and congratulated by well-wishers across the world for bagging such a prestigious offer.

The youngest woman employee at Unilever, Leena Nair started as a management trainee but gradually climbed way up the ladder at the company with her talent and dedication towards her work.

Considering her performance and the recognition she has achieved working for Unilever, Nair was offered the position of Global CEO at the international luxury brand Chanel.

She herself broke this news via her Twitter account and also thanked the authorities at Chanel for trusting her with such a huge responsibility.

Nair is originally from the city of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, where she received her education at the Holy Cross Convent High School. She further pursued her engineering from the Walchand College in Sangli, followed by a degree in management from Jamshedpur.

She had always been a bright and enthusiastic student and proved so perpetually through several awards and achievements including a gold medal during her management course.

Leena kick-started her career as a Management Trainee in HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) in 1992. She then began working as a manager consecutively at three different companies under Unilever, including Lipton Factory.

She took on the responsibility of Unilever's Human Resource Officer in 2013, in addition to the position of company's Global Head of Diversity after some years down the line.

Further, in 2016, she took on the responsibility of ULE - Unilever Leadership Executive - at the London headquarters of Unilever.

Owing to her several years of expertise in the field, and the dedication with which she has reached this stage, she was offered the position at Chanel. Nair will now be counted in the list of successful Indian businesswomen who are taking over major business giants across the world.