IIM Lucknow alumnus to lead $84.3-bn P&G as CEO from January 1, 2026
Shailesh Jejurikar, 58, was educated at a Hyderabad school, Mumbai college and Lucknow management school. According to reports, Jejurikar was a classmate of Satya Nadella, who is at the helm of Microsoft.
Kolkata: Come 2026 and another Indian-origin business leader will helm one of the world's most venerated FMCG companies -- P&G. The FMCG MNC will be led by IIM Lucknow alumnus Shailesh Jejurikar who was educated at Hyderabad Public School, Mumbai's Elphinstone College and IIM Lucknow. Jejurkar, who joined the company in 1989 and has risen through the ranks will take over as CEO from January 1, 2026.
Proctor & Gamble, which is more popular by its abbreviation P&G was set up in Cincinnati in 1837 when a British candlemaker joined forces with an Irish soapmaker. P&G is active all over the world in five segments -- beauty, grooming, health care, fabric and home care and baby, feminine and family care.
A growing list of Indian biz leaders in the west
Indra Nooyi headed PepsiCo as CEO from 2006 to 2018. She was one of the first Indian-origin heads of an MNC. Then came a number of high-profile business leaders -- Sundar Pichai of Alphabet, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, Arvind Krishna of IBM and Leena Nair of Chanel, Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks, Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron Technology and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks.
Jejurikar is currently serving the COO of the company. One of the primary challenges of Jejurikar will be to boost sales and profits of the MNC. The prominent brands of the company with which Indians are familiar are Ariel, Crest, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Olay, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene, Tide and Vicks. Reports said P&G cut its annual sales and profit outlook in the last quarter and said trade tariffs and volatility in consumer demand as the key headwinds.
"Shailesh Jejurikar's appointment as CEO proves yet again that Indian-American leaders can navugate not just tech, but the hearst and minds of US consumers," wrote Anand Mahindra on social media.
"Shailesh has been an integral part of P&G's leadership team with substantial contributions across multiple businesses and in both developed and developing regions, notably in Fabric Care and Home Care and most recently in P&G’s Enterprise markets... Shailesh is an outstanding leader, and the Company will benefit from his ongoing leadership to build on the strong foundation he has helped create,” P&G director Joe Jimenez was quoted in the media as saying.