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It was in 2013 when Sanjiv Mehta was appointed as the CEO of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and five years later, Mehta will succeed company’s long-serving non-executive Chairman Harish Manwani and will be re-designated as Chairman and Managing Director after the conclusion of the AGM.
"He is not only a great leader, but is also very humble and a man of great compassion. Very competent and a great listener," Manwani had said about Mehta in an interview.
His journey with HUL
1983-1992: Sales Manager, Manager Business Analysis, Manager-Corporate Accounting and Finance, Union Carbide India
1992-1998: Group Commercial Manager and Commercial head Home and Personal Care, Unilever Arabia
January 1999-March 2002: Commercial Director, Unilever Bangladesh
April 2002-December 2006: Chairman and Managing Director, Unilever Bangladesh
2007-08: Chairman and CEO, Unilever Philippines
March 2008-October 2013: Chairman, Unilever, North Africa and Middle East
Early journey
Son of an RBI accountant, Sanjiv Mehta grew up in Mumbai and took up commerce in college and went on to become a chartered accountant. His first job was at Union Carbide in 1983, a year before, the world's worst industrial disasters, a gas leak from the company's plant in Bhopal killed thousands and affected half a million people.
In an interview with The Economic Times, Mehta described the tragedy as ‘a huge learning curve’ and it made him realise the importance of safety. In the wake of the tragedy, Mehta was part of the Union Carbide crisis-management team.
His work there was noticed and he was promoted to head of finance of the company's plastics division.
In 1992, after Union Carbide folded in India, Mehta joined Unilever in Dubai. His big leap came in 1999, when he was sent to Bangladesh as a member of the board. His mandate was to turn it around, which he did in two-and-a-half years and was elevated to Chairman.
What is industry’s view about Mehta?
D Shivakumar, an ex-HUL employee had said, "He is an excellent manager and had done a wonderful job of handling partners in the Middle East, especially distributors, who are key in such markets."
Head of a search firm once described Mehta as a well-rounded professional. "There are some CEOs who are only good in strategy, but Sanjiv is a hardcore operations person, who can roll up his sleeves and tell people how to execute plans on the ground," he says.
HUL's board has decided that the tenure of Sanjiv Mehta as Chairman shall be till March 2020, keeping in view the recommendations of the Kotak Committee on corporate governance.
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