Laxman Narasimhan (born 15 April 1967) is an

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

business executive who was

chief commercial officer The chief commercial officer (CCO) (sometime referred to as the chief business officer) is an executive-level role, with the holder being responsible for the commercial strategy and the development of an organization. It typically involves activi ...

(CCO) of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the man ...

, and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) of

Reckitt Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the merg ...

. He joined

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 ...

under the title "interim CEO" in October 2022, and following the transition will succeed interim CEO

Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who served as both chairman and CEO of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and as interim CEO since 2022. Schultz also owned the Seattle SuperSonics basket ...

on April 1, 2023.

Early life

Narasimhan was raised in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, India. He earned a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

from the

College of Engineering, Pune COEP Technological University, is A Unitary Public University of Government of Maharashtra, situated in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Established in 1854, it is the 2nd oldest engineering college in India, after IIT Roorkee (1847). The students a ...

, an MA in German and International Studies from The Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA in Finance from the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

Career

Narasimhan worked for

McKinsey McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

for 19 years until 2012, rising to director and location manager for their

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

office. In 2012, he joined PepsiCo, rising to chief commercial officer. Narasimhan succeeded Rakesh Kapoor as CEO of Reckitt Benckiser in September 2019, formulating a turnaround plan which was intended to rejuvenate the company "following a series of missteps and lacklustre growth that marked the final years of his predecessor". However, in September 2022 the company unexpectedly announced his resignation, citing "personal and family reasons". On September 1, 2022,

announced that Narasimhan will become the company's next CEO. He will succeed

, who has served as interim CEO since

Kevin Johnson Kevin Johnson may refer to: Entertainment *Kevin Johnson (singer) (born 1942), Australian singer * Kevin Johnson (ventriloquist) (born 1970), ventriloquist on ''America's Got Talent'' * Kevin Royal Johnson (born 1961), American singer-songwriter a ...

resigned in March 2022.

Personal life

Narasimhan is married, with two children, and lives in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

. He speaks six languages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narasimhan, Laxman Living people Reckitt people PepsiCo people Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni American chief executives Indian emigrants to the United States American people of Indian descent Savitribai Phule Pune University alumni McKinsey & Company people 1967 births Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References