Unilever PLC today announces the appointment of Srinivas Phatak as its new Chief Financial Officer (“CFO“) after a thorough internal and external search process. Srinivas’s appointment as CFO, and to the Board and Unilever Leadership Executive is effective immediately.
London, England, United Kingdom, September 2025 – In February 2025, Unilever PLC announced that Srinivas, who was Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Group Controller at the time, would become Acting CFO and that a full search would be initiated to appoint a permanent CFO.
Following that process, the Unilever Board is in unanimous agreement that Srinivas is the best candidate for the role, due to the strength of his industry and functional experience and having performed strongly as acting CFO.
Fernando Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Srinivas has been a great partner over the last six months as acting CFO and over many years as part of the Unilever leadership team. He brings financial rigour, strategic clarity, and a sharp eye for value creation. His leadership and constructive challenge will be very valuable in driving consistent volume growth, margin expansion, and advancing our growth story. I’m confident that, together with the team, we can build a scalable marketing and sales engine that delivers executional excellence across all channels.”
Srinivas is currently Independent Non-Executive Director on the board of Coats Group plc.
Details regarding Srinivas’s remuneration arrangements are set out below.
Srinivas brings over 25 years of financial leadership experience with Unilever, having held several strategic roles across geographies and business units. Prior to his appointment as Chief Financial Officer, he served as Acting CFO for seven months and before that as Deputy CFO and Group Controller for nearly three years, based in the United Kingdom. His work during this period focused on financial leadership, strategic transformation, and building global financial capabilities.
Earlier, he served as Executive Vice President – Financial Controls and Risk Management, where he drove compliance, governance, and enterprise risk initiatives globally. He was also CFO of Hindustan Unilever Limited and Vice President Finance – South Asia, a pivotal role in one of the company’s largest markets, where he led regional financial strategies and performance management.
His global finance experience includes leadership roles such as VP Finance Supply Chain Americas (based in Switzerland), VP Category Finance and Vice President Finance Services in London, and Finance Head for Foods and Refreshments at HUL in Mumbai. These roles reflect his versatility in handling diverse finance portfolios, from investor relations to category finance and supply chain finance.
Earlier in his career, Srinivas also served as Head of Global Treasury Operations and held roles in commercial, logistics, and finance functions across Unilever India. He began his professional journey at ITC Limited, where he worked for three years as Assistant Manager – Audit before joining Unilever in 1999.
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