Unilever’s Sanjiv Mehta to join Danone board

French dairy major Danone has announced the appointment of Sanjiv Mehta, a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive, to its board of directors as an independent member.

Mehta currently serves as the managing director and chief executive of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a role he will leave on 26 June. If approved at Danone’s shareholders’ meeting on 27 April, he will join Danone’s board on 1 July.

HUL, the Indian subsidiary of Unilever, has last week announced the appointment of Rohit Jawa as its new managing director and chief executive, effective 27 June.

Danone said Mehta’s appointment will be ‘another positive step forward’ for Danone, as he brings with him in-depth knowledge of the consumer goods sector and diversified international expertise, particularly on Asian markets.

“He has deep consumer goods and international experience, which will add to the existing expertise across our diversified team of leading experts spanning health, consumer goods, ESG, and finance. I would like to thank him for his engagement and look forward to working with him,” Gilles Schnepp, chairman of Danone’s board of directors, said.

Mehta, an Indian national, held several management positions in finance, audit and sales at Union Carbide between 1983 and 1992 before joining the Unilever group in 1992. He has been the managing director of HUL since 2013 and under his leadership HUL has become India’s market leader in FMCG and has developed significant social and environmental initiatives.