One of the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, US-headquartered Whirlpool Corporation has appointed Harish Manwani to its board of directors.
A Unilever veteran, Manwani has served as president on the Unilever Executive Board since 2005. He joined Hindustan Unilever Limited in 1976 and has held various key positions including overseeing Unilever's consumer goods businesses in Latin America, North America and Asia. He is also non-executive chairman of Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
The world's second largest consumer goods major Unilever had recently named Manwani to the newly created position of COO as part of its global reorganisation. He will take over the new role at Unilever from September.
His appointment to the Whirlpool board comes at a time when various global firms are looking to diversify the board membership as they increase their global business into emerging markets.
Incidentally, India is one of the key markets for Whirlpool in Asia Pacific and has been growing much faster than the parent company as Indian consumers lap up new home gadgets. The US firm has a public listed Indian arm selling Whirlpool branded refrigerators and washing machines among other appliances in the country.
Commenting on his appointment, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of whirlpool, Jeff M. Fettig said, "His proven business leadership makes Harish Manwani an outstanding addition to our board, We expect his breadth of experience and guidance on business issues will be invaluable to our board of directors and Whirlpool Corporation."
Last year, Whirlpool Corporation had the annual sales of more than $18 billion, 71,000 employees, and 66 manufacturing & technology research centres around the world. The company markets Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, Bauknecht and Gladiator brands that holds a unique and differentiated position in the marketplace.
