Former Unilever exec Krishnan Sundaram appointed as CEO of Vini Cosmetics

Hindustan Unilever veteran Krishnan Sundaram was appointed as Vini Cosmetics's chief executive officer. In his last role, Sundaram was Vice President and Business Head, Nutrition at HUL, where he led the integration for Unilever's acquisition of GSK Nutrition portfolio (Horlicks). He quit Unilever in December 2023 after over two decades with the FMCG juggernaut and experience spanning people and commercial leadership across India and global markets.

Sundaram has Master’s degree in Business Administration from Delhi University. He joined Hindustan Unilever in 2000 as a management trainee, working in his initial years in customer development. He moved to brand management in 2004, looking after the tea and coffee brands of Unilever in India. In 2010, Sundaram moved as marketing head of the premium laundry business and subsequently was the general manager of the beverages business, both within HUL.

In 2014, he moved to partner the cluster president of Unilever for South Asia and headed the marketing operations function, creating and executing a strategic growth plan across business and countries. In June 2017, Sundaram moved to London to take up a global assignment as head of Marketing transformation and capability, with responsibility for business and portfolio transformation and marketing excellence and capability.

In January 2019, Sundaram was appointed as the Head of integration and change for the Horlicks (GSK) Acquisition.

VINI International was started by Darshan Patel, who led the transformation of family-run Paras Pharmaceuticals ltd. In December 2010, Reckitt Benkiser Group (RB) bought over Paras Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Paras) for US $850 million.

Patel introduced products like Moov, Krack, Itchguard, Dermicool, and D'cold, which went to become household names. Patel later started Vini Cosmetics and launched Fogg deodorant in 2011.