HUL appoints Sunanda Khaitan as CMO for Beauty & Wellbeing portfolio

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has appointed Sunanda Khaitan as chief marketing officer for its Beauty & Wellbeing portfolio, effective January 2026. She will be based in Mumbai and will oversee marketing strategy across the company’s personal care and beauty brands spanning mass and premium segments.

Khaitan has spent more than 19 years with Unilever, building deep expertise across sales, brand management and leadership roles in both Indian and international markets. In her most recent role, she served as vice president and business head of Lakmē, where she led brand strategy, innovation and overall business operations for the beauty brand.

Prior to that, Khaitan held several global leadership positions within Unilever’s haircare and skincare businesses. Her roles included serving as global brand director for haircare, as well as for Fair & Lovely and Citra, where she worked on brand transformation and portfolio strategy across multiple markets.

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Her earlier responsibilities also included regional brand leadership for Pond’s in South Asia, along with senior brand roles across Lakmē and Pond’s in India. Khaitan began her career at Unilever in sales and customer excellence functions before transitioning into brand building and category leadership assignments.

Before joining Unilever, she worked at Dabur India, where she held sales roles early in her career.

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In her new position at HUL, Khaitan will be responsible for shaping the long-term marketing vision of the Beauty & Wellbeing portfolio, a key growth engine for the company as it continues to expand its presence in premium beauty and personal care categories.