P&G appoints Bala Purushothaman as Global CHRO

Bala Purushothaman, CHRO, P&G (Effective January 1, 2023)

FMCG major Procter & Gamble has announced the appointment of Bala Purushothaman as the Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO), effective January 1, 2023. He is the fourth Indian after Shailesh Jejurikar (COO), Sundar Raman (CEO, Fabric & Home Care), and Kirti Singh (Chief Analytics & Insights Officer) to ascend to the global leadership of the company in recent years.

Purushothaman will take over the role from Tracey Grabowski, who is retiring after a career spanning over three decades, including more than four years as the Global CHRO, the company said in a statement.

Purushothaman began his career with P&G in India in 1992 as a Management Trainee in the Human Resources (HR) department. He went on to work with P&G in multiple countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Russia, and the United States.

Purushothaman is responsible for developing and leading P&G's people and organisation strategy. This includes attracting and developing diverse talent and building a culture that drives innovation and productivity to support P&G's business strategy and people across 70+ countries.

“At P&G, we are leveraging the talent of our people as a competitive advantage by delivering a truly superior employee experience. We do this by attracting great people for a career, giving them early and increasing responsibilities, inspiring managers to be coaches, and being inclusive,” said Purushothaman.

“Our focus on employee development is our biggest differentiator. I can't wait to get started, and look forward to working with our incredibly talented teams worldwide,” he added.

Born in Chennai, Purushothaman earned his bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Madras, and a master's in HR from the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur.

P&G said it has more than 300 Indian expats in various roles across the company. Last year, it appointed Shailesh Jejurikar as the Global COO, the first Indian to hold the position. It had also appointed Sundar Raman as the Global CEO of the company's Fabric and Home Care division.