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After a gap of four and a half decades, Hindustan Lever is set to get an expat CEO.
Douglas Baillie, group vice president and head of Unilever's Africa, Middle East and Turkey cluster, will take over as the chief executive officer (CEO) on March 1 next year.
In a parallel move, Arun Adhikari, currently managing director, home & personal care, HLL, has been appointed as chairman, Unilever Japan. His appointment too will be effective from March 1, 2006. HLL board of directors approved the twin appointments on Thursday at the company's Mumbai headquarters.
Huge challenges for the new HLL CEO
The new management structure is in alignment with the structure at Unilever which allows co-existence of a chairman and a CEO. Harish Manwani will continue as HLL chairman in addition to being president, Unilever Asia and Africa.
Following the two key appointments, the national management committee of HLL would be extended to a broader management committee by including a few more senior executives.
"The second round of reshuffle will take place in the third week of January," said Manwani.
Besides being the CEO of India operations, Baillie will be group vice president responsible for Unilever's business in South Asia, which includes Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Announcing the appointments, Manwani said, "This is a strategic move. India and Japan are key to our long term sustained growth in the region. I believe that these two appointments will provide a renewed strategic thrust to these businesses. Both appointments reflect Unilever's commitment to enriching and widening international exposure of our leadership."
Emphasising continuity with change as a matter of policy, Manwani said M K Sharma would continue with his current responsibilities as vice chairman, D Sundaram as director, finance & IT and S Ravindranath as the managing director of foods division.
"Arun's appointment as the Chairman of Unilever Japan, including responsibility for Korea, is a significant step to further strengthen our business in these most developed markets of Asia. His experience in leading a large FMCG business in a complex market like India will be of critical importance in his new role," Manwani said.
Adhikari, who is the first Indian chairman of Unilever Japan will also be responsible for Korea, which along with Japan is the most developed market in the region.
"At present, the Asia-AMET cluster contributes to a quarter of Unilever's growth and in the first nine months this year, over 50 per cent of the company's growth has come from this market," Manwani said, emphasising the importance of this market.
