View From The Top: Leena Nair

On Campus

View From The Top is the dean’s premier speaker series where students interview well-respected leaders from around the world who share insights on effective leadership, their personal core values, and lessons learned throughout their career.

Speaker

Leena Nair has been Global Chief Executive Officer of Chanel since January 2022.

Chanel is a private company and a world leader in creating, developing and distributing luxury products. Founded by Gabrielle Chanel at the beginning of the last century, Chanel offers a broad range of high-end creations across Fashion, Fragrance & Beauty and Watches and Fine Jewelry. It is dedicated to ultimate luxury and to the highest level of craftsmanship.

Leena is highly respected as a visionary leader whose ability to champion a long-term, purpose-driven agenda is matched with a consistently strong track record of outstanding performance in all areas.

Under Leena’s leadership Chanel continues to strengthen its Brand focusing on client experience, supporting its people, progressing its sustainability ambitions and delivering strong financial results.

Prior to joining Chanel, Leena spent 30 years at Unilever, serving as the company’s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and member of their Executive Committee from 2016 to 2021. She built a global reputation for progressive human-centered leadership, delivering significant business impact.

Leena is a member of the Board of the Leverhulme Trust, a charitable organization focused on supporting education and research. She previously served as a non-executive director at BT plc and the UK Government’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department.

She has won numerous awards including Global Indian of the Year from the Economic Times, as well as being recognized in TIME’s Women of the Year List 2024, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list 2023, Forbes India’s W-Power list 2022, WWD 50 Women in Power List 2023 and Role Model of Year in 2021 at The Great British Businesswoman’s Awards. Leena is also part of the Thinkers50 List – Thinkers Who Will Shape the Future of Business.

Registration

This event is open to current Stanford GSB community members — students, faculty, and staff — and invited guests by registration only.