Proctor and Gamble picks IIM alumnus Shailesh Jejurikar as CEO, putting him 'Head&Shoulders' above US executives

TOI correspondent from Washington: Procter & Gamble (P&G), the storied consumer goods company that put Gillette and Old Spice, Crest and Vicks, Head&Shoulders and Pantene, Olay and Oral-B, Pampers and Tampax, among other products on the world's store shelves, has named Mumbai-born Shailesh Jejurikar as its next CEO.

Jejurikar, 58, an alumnus of Hyderabad Public School (and a classmate of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella), Mumbai University, and IIM Lucknow (1989), will succeed Jon Moeller, who will transition to the role of Executive Chairman, the company said in an announcement. He will be the first Asian and Indian CEO minted entirely in the Indian education system to helm the 187-year old company, whose founding pre-dates Abraham Lincoln.

Company man: P&G is also the only company Jejurikar has worked at in a 36-year career that began when he was recruited from IIM Lucknow in 1989 as an Assistant Brand Manager, skin care, going on to become marketing director for India a decade later.His transition to the global workplace began in 2010 when he was appointed Vice President for Home Care, North America, before being named CEO of P&G's Fabric & Home Care, the company's largest business sector, in 2019.

It includes iconic brands like Tide, Ariel, Downy, Gain, Febreze, and Swiffer. In 2021, he was appointed P&G's first-ever Chief Operating Officer to oversee a broad portfolio including P&G's Enterprise Markets (Latin America, India, Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe), as well as critical company-wide functions such as sales, market operations, purchasing, and manufacturing.Founded in 1837 by candlemaker William Procter and soap maker James Gamble, P&G currently has global revenues of around $84 billion, ranking it 51st in the Fortune 500.

About 48 per cent of its revenue is from the US market and 52 percent spanning the rest of the world. More than 20 P&G products have global revenues of more than $ 1 billion each. Its India revenues have been growing fast and topped $2 billion recently, among the many reasons the board appears to have chosen him to lead the company even as sales in the US is slowing down. While India-born CEOs in the tech sector is now a familiar story (Microsoft, Google, IBM, Adobe Systems, YouTube, Micron all have Indian CEOs), less well-known is "desi" CEOs in the broader market beyond tech.

Among them: Raj Subramaniam leading FedEx, Vivek Sankaran helming the grocery chain Albertsons, Vasant Narasimhan at Novartis AG, and Leena Nair, picked to lead France's global luxury brand Chanel. Jejurikar's elevation comes at a time of rampant nativism in Middle America, where he currently lives (in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is P&G's headquarters). While 90 per cent of P&G products sold in the US are made in America, allaying President Trump's rage about cheap foreign products, many in his MAGA base are resentful of foreign-born CEOs like Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai despite their critical role in growing the US economy and their ties to India, providing an opening to a fast-growing market.

Jejurikar is married to Sankhya, a visual artist, and they have two sons, who, the dad once revealed while talking up Tide pods (a P&G product) and promoting gender equality, do their own laundry. His brother Rajesh Jejurikar is the Executive Director and CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd's Auto & Farm division.News of Shailesh’s elevation triggered delight in the Indian corporate sector, now positioned as a global crucible for leadership. “Shailesh Jejurikar’s appointment as CEO proves yet again that Indian-American leaders can navigate not just tech, but the hearts and minds of US consumers. And this news has special meaning for us at @MahindraRise because Shailesh happens to be the younger brother of our very own Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director and CEO (Auto & Farm Sector) M&M Ltd,” the business patriarch Anand Mahindra noted.