Srinivas Phatak was appointed as acting chief financial officer (CFO) on 1 March 2025, having been deputy CFO and group controller at Unilever.
Meanwhile, Fernando Fernandez, the previous CFO, stepped into role of chief executive officer. The internal shuffle followed the surprise departure of Unilever’s CEO Hein Schumacher.
Speaking with Food Manufacture at the time, corporate finance director at Rollits LLP, Julian Wild said Fernandez’s move to the helm will have settled investors, but the task at hand will be difficult.
“Turning around a huge ship like Unilever takes time and, despite Fernandez’s impressive track record, this will not be an easy task,” Wild said.
A full search for a permanent replacement for Unilever’s CFO ensued. Now, Unilever has announced that following its internal and external search, Srinivas will continue as CFO, with the Board in “unanimous agreement" that he is the “best candidate”.
Prior to Unilever, Srinivas served as CFO for Hindustan Unilever Limited and VP finance South Asia for four years. He played a key role in accelerating the growth of the business and driving value creation.
During his tenure, the India business gained corporate share, grew over 7%, with over 300bps margin expansion leading to the doubling of HUL market capitalisation.
Commenting on Srinivas’ appointment, Fernandez 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 will receive annual fixed pay of €1.175 million, and is eligible to receive annual bonus and Performance Share Plan awards, and localisation support, in line with the business’ existing remuneration policy.
Srinivas is a qualified chartered accountant and cost accountant and is currently an independent non-executive director on the board of Coats Group plc.
