Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) today announced the appointment of Rohit Jawa – a 35-year veteran at HUL – as its new managing director and chief executive officer. He will succeed incumbent MD & CEO Sanjiv Mehta, and will take over the position effective 27th June, 2023. Mehta will retire from the company. In an exchange filing, HUL said, “The Board of Directors of the Company at their meeting held on Friday, 10th March, 2023, has approved the appointment of Rohit Jawa, presently the Chief of Transformation for Unilever, as a Whole-time Director of the Company with effect from 1st April, 2023 upto 26th June, 2023 and as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (‘MD & CEO’) of the Company for a term of five consecutive years with effect from 27th June, 2023.”
So, who is Rohit Jawa?
A Harvard Business School graduate, Rohit Jawa began working for HUL in 1988 as a management trainee, and subsequently held executive positions in the company’s sales, marketing, transformation and general management teams. The 57-year old upcoming MD & CEO of HUL is also a marketing MBA graduate from Delhi’s Faculty of Management Studies (FMS). While he started his journey at Unilever’s Mumbai office, he worked in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, China, and the UK.
Before joining the parent company as chief of transformation, Jawa was the executive vice president for the North Asia region and chairman of Unilever China. India is the second most valuable market for Unilever, while China is the third largest. Rohit Jawa has experience in categories like personal care, home care, and food segment.
Currently, he is the Chief of Transformation for Unilever in London. He joined Unilever in this role in January 2022 and “has successfully orchestrated the once-in-a-decade, end-to-end transformation of Unilever”. HUL, in a statement, said that Jawa before his UK stint led a “significant transformation of Unilever China into a competitive, profitable, and consistent business”. Before this, he led the business in the Philippines to “become one of the top 10 markets for Unilever globally”.
“Rohit’s ability to integrate the strength of traditional markets with digital technologies and future-fit business models, positions him well to take HUL into its next growth phase,” the company said in the exchange filing.
