Paris: French fashion house Chanel on Tuesday named Lena Nair, an executive at Unilever, as its new global CEO, choosing the consumer goods giant to run one of the world's largest luxury goods conglomerates.
Nair's career spanned 30 years at Unilever, most recently as head of human resources and a member of the company's executive committee.
A British national, born in India, Nair is a rare outsider at the helm of a tightly controlled family fashion house known for its tweed suits, quilted handbags and No. 5 perfumes.
The 52-year-old follows American businesswoman Maureen Chiquet, who came from a fashion background and was CEO of Chanel for nine years until early 2016.
French billionaire Alain Wertheimer, a 73-year-old who owns Chanel with his brother Gerard Wertheimer and originally took the CEO job on a temporary basis, will move into the role of global executive chairman.
Chanel was founded in 1910 by fashion legend Gabriele "Coco" Chanel as a hat boutique on Rue Cambon in Paris and became a byword for French chic.
The group said Nair, who oversees 150,000 people at Unilever, will join in late January and stay in London. It said the new appointments would ensure "long-term success as a private company".
Nair's recruit, who started as an apprentice on the factory floor through the ranks of Unilever, is under pressure to show a more inclusive outlook on the fashion industry.
Under its watch Unilever achieved gender equality in global management, according to a Harper's Bazaar profile published last month, which also highlighted their commitment to paying a living wage across the supply chain.
Nair serves as a non-executive board member at BT and has previously served as non-executive director of the British Government's Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The channel has fiercely defended its independence and only started publishing financial results in 2018. In July it said it expected double-digit sales growth this year compared to pre-pandemic levels of $12.3 billion in 2019.
Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solka said the channel was following the trend of attracting top executives from the consumer packaged goods industry.
“Unilever and P&G have long stood as management reservoirs for the relatively young luxury goods industry,” said Antonio Belloni, general manager of LVMH and former president of Procter & Gamble in Europe and Fabrizio Freda, head of Estée Lauder. Pointing out, a P&G veteran.