Shailesh Jejurikar, who was appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) of multi-national consumer goods giant Procter and Gamble, was an alumnus of the prestigious Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet.
His classmates at school include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and others who made it big like -- Soumya Chakravorty of Deloitte Consulting and V. Nagender of Tesla.
His classmates recalled with fond memories of Mr. Shailesh being the Head Boy of the school in the batch of 1984 and a cheerful student who was a born leader. "He used to take everyone along with him and Satya (Nadella) always hanged around him. They were very close as both of them played cricket," said Pratap Kamat who is a champion race horse trainer in Mysore. Satya also represented the school in cricket.
Mr. Kamat pulled out from his personal album an interview of junior editors of the middle school with the Head Boy Sailesh on his appointment and his reactions. He was invested with the post on August 13, 1983, by then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao.
Political inclination
Replying to a question, Mr. Shailesh said his objective was to become an engineer. "But, I may think of joining politics after a few years". He said he took deep interest in the political situation of the country.
Another classmate Faiz Khan, who is presently member, Board of Governors of HPS, said Mr. Shailesh was also in the air force wing of NCC at the school as Flight Sergeant.
Mr. Jaideep Singh, one of the prefects who was supposed to assist the Head Boy, recalled that Mr. Shailesh was inducted as Flight Sergeant straight away after joining the school in class eight.
Mr. Jalagam Venkat Rao, son of former AP Chief Minister J. Vengal Rao, said Mr. Shailesh was a regular at reunions of their batchmates until 2019 when the latter became the CEO of P&G's largest business sector - Fabric and Home Care. M.A.P. Raju, brother of former Union Minister Pallam Raju, was also their classmate.
A statement of the company said Mr. Jejurikar is scheduled to become the Chief Operating Officer effective October 1. As COO, he will have profit/loss responsibility for P&G’s Enterprise Markets (Latin America, India, Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe). He will also lead Information Technology, Global Business Services, Sales, Market Operations, New Business, Purchasing, Manufacturing, and Distribution efforts for the company.
After B.A. Economics in 1987 from Mumbai University, he did his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow in 1989 and in the same year joined P&G in India as Assistant Brand Manager, Personal Health Care. From then onwards, there was looking back as he went on hold numerous responsibilities that took him across continents. His extensive P&G career has spanned multiple businesses (Health & Beauty Care, Home Care, Fabric Care and P&G Professional) in both developed and developing regions (North America, Europe, Asia and Africa), the company said.
“He has consistently delivered strong business results in every market and on every business, enabled via his deep experience of growing brands locally, regionally, globally and across service industries, together with his passion for brand building. He has the unique ability of identifying growth possibilities,” P&G said. The Fabric and Home Care business of which he is CEO now includes many of iconic brands and represents about one-third of total company sales and net earnings.
Published - July 31, 2021 11:22 am IST
