Rohit Jawa, management trainee to HUL CEO: 7 points about top business leader

Rohit Jawa has been with HUL for 35 years. (Image credit: Rohit Jawa/LinkedIn)

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) has approved the appointment of Rohit Jawa, presently the company's chief of transformation, as its next managing director and chief executive officer (CEO). Jawa’s appointment, for a five-year period, will come into effect from June 27, the FMCG giant informed the stock exchanges. "The appointment of Rohit Jawa as a whole-time Director and MD & CEO will be subject to approval of shareholders and other statutory approvals as may be applicable," HUL said in a regulatory filing.

Here are 7 things to know about Rohit Jawa, the new MD and CEO of HUL:

• Jawa, 56, will succeed incumbent MD and CEO Sanjiv Mehta, who has been at the helm of Hindustan Unilever since 2013.
• He currently serves as the Chief of Transformation for Unilever. Based in London currently, he was given the role in January last year.
• Jawa has spent 35 years at Unilever, joining the company in 1988 as a management trainee. He has spent the last three decades in various managerial roles at the company in India, Singapore, Philippines, Shanghai and London.
• After graduating from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College in 1986, Jawa earned an MBA in marketing from Delhi University.
• Last year, he did a short management course from Harvard University.
• As the chairman of Unilever Philippines, Jawa led the business to become one of the top 10 markets for Unilever globally, the company said.
• In a 2017 blogpost during his stint in China, Jawa spoke about the challenges he faces as a leader. “By understanding that as a leader, my learning is never truly complete, that to succeed I must evolve and adapt to a constantly changing landscape,” he wrote.