Leadership

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Somasree Bose Awasthi is currently the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Marico Limited where she is responsible for leading the brand marketing initiatives, including core brands like Saffola Edible Oils and the iconic Parachute Coconut Oil.

A veteran in the industry, Somasree has over 19 years of marketing experience across categories such as personal care, home care, and air care brands. She started her professional career with Godrej as a Management Trainee as a part of their Godrej Sara Lee business and then continued with Godrej Consumer Product post the merger. Early in her career, she worked as Areas Sales Manager for West Bengal in GCPL upcountry and was the first Female ASM in Eastern Region for the company. Thereafter, she continued her journey with Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), having been the Chief Marketing Officer recently.

During her tenure at GCPL, she has gained significant experience in business turnaround for soaps category, successfully scaling up innovation and has led new product launches in the health and wellness space. She also, notably, started the Direct-to-Consumer channel for GCPL for the first time with Godrej Aer.

She has been featured among the Top 26 in The Economic Times Women Ahead 2017 list and has been included in Impact’s Top 50 most influential women in marketing and media three years in a row.

Somasree holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from RCOEM, Nagpur, and completed her MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar.

Chief Legal Officer and Group General Counsel Amit Bhasin is Chief Legal Officer and Group General Counsel for Marico Limited. He is part of the Executive Committee of Marico Limited and is responsible for Legal and Corporate Affairs Function for Marico Group both in India and International markets. Amit Bhasin is member of Governance Committee of Marico and also anchors Corporate Social Responsibility function of Marico.

Amit has over 19 years of experience in Corporate Legal, Legal Business Partnering, Corporate Compliances and Governance. He has worked across organizations in consumer sector. Prior to joining Marico, Amit Bhasin was associated with Hindustan Unilever Limited as General Manager – Legal and Corporate Secretarial for over 13 years. He has handled multiple roles and worked on several M&A transactions and corporate actions for Unilever including the acquisition of GSK business. He was part of several global working networks for Unilever in the areas of Competition Law, Governance and Compliance.

Amit plays an active role in the advocacy efforts for FMCG industry and is part of several industry bodies. He is member of FICCI FMCG Committee and Chair for FICCI FMCG Committee for Legal Metrology and CCPA. He is part of Legal Committee of Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA), Executive Committee Member of MCIA FMCG User Council.

Amit is a Law Graduate and a certified Chartered Secretary from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) . He has also earned a post-graduation certification in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 2011.

Chief Human Resources Officer Amit Prakash is currently the CHRO at Marico, responsible for the overall organizational development through people management practices, culture-building initiatives, developing and strengthening functional leadership capabilities.

He joined Marico in 2015 as the Head of Human Resources - India Business.

With 20 years of work experience, Amit has been responsible for setting up the Corporate HR function at Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages where he also led business transformation with specific focus on people productivity & process efficiency.

He has also worked with Delphi, ITC and LG in varied roles. Over the years, his experience includes, performance management and improvement, talent management and planning to career and succession development as well as organizational development.

Amit holds a Bachelors’ degree in Science from Hansraj College and has done MPM (HR) from the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management.

CEO – International Business Ashish Goupal currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer for International Business at Marico Limited. In this role, he oversees the company’s international operations across multiple geographies, including Bangladesh, South-East Asia, the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), South Africa and Exports Markets. Within the Marico Group, he plays a pivotal role as a member of the Executive Committee and serves on the Board of Marico Bangladesh (MBL).

His journey with Marico began in 2006 when he joined Marico India as Area Sales Manager. Over the years, Ashish consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership and was subsequently appointed as the Managing Director of Marico Bangladesh Limited (MBL) in July 2018. Under his leadership MBL with listings on the Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges since 2009. has rapidly emerged as one of the most dynamic and fast-growing FMCG companies in Bangladesh. In February 2022, Ashish assumed the role of COO for the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) business, as well as New Country Development (NCD) business, in addition to his responsibilities in Bangladesh. In October 2023, Ashish assumed role of CEO International Business and will be responsible for driving Marico’s business and people growth journey in international markets.

Throughout his impressive 18+ years at Marico, Ashish excelled and delivered remarkable results in various domains, including Revenue Management, Brand Management, New Product Development, Trade Marketing, Shopper Marketing, and Demand Planning. He has successfully introduced new brands and spearheaded transformative initiatives in areas such as Business Transformation, Talent value proposition, Governance & Sustainability, and Cost Management.

Under Ashish's leadership, Marico Bangladesh achieved the significant milestone of crossing the 1000 Crores business mark. The company also earned numerous industry accolades for its outstanding brands, exemplary corporate governance, and contributions to corporate social responsibility in Bangladesh.

He holds a degree from the Jamanalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and started his career as a management trainee with the global consumer durable leader, Samsung, in 2004.

Beyond his commitments at Marico, Ashish has held positions on the boards of prominent organizations, including the American School of Dhaka, FICCI Bangladesh, and the Indo-Bangla Chamber of Commerce, further exemplifying his dedication to community and industry involvement.

Chief Operating Officer, India & Foods Business Vaibhav serves as Chief Operating Officer, India & Foods Business and is responsible for sales, manufacturing, supply chain and the Foods business. Prior to this, in his role as Chief Operating Officer, South East Asia and South Africa, he led the revamp of SEA business through an effective and efficient Go-To-Market Model, driving critical transformation projects as well as diversification of the product portfolio in the regions. He has partnered with cross functional teams across geographies to build the right business, talent, and leadership capabilities embedding Marico culture which has been a key enabler to SEA’s strategy success. His portfolio and investment prioritisation in South Africa helped accelerate the business growth. Vaibhav’s leadership experience in Sales, Marketing and General Management roles is defined by business transformation initiatives including development of strategies to driving execution.

Vaibhav joined Marico in 2020 and spent a significant part of his career with GSK Consumer Healthcare where he gained a wealth of experience with various roles across Asia, Africa and Latin America. He began his career as a Management Trainee, eventually rising to the General Manager, Indochina & Myanmar, where he led the consumer healthcare business in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

With an experience of over 23 years in the consumer healthcare and FMCG industry, Vaibhav has lived in cross-cultural environments in India, Nigeria, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam and is passionate about driving success with people and for people.

Vaibhav did his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pune in 1998 and then pursued MBA in Marketing from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune in the year 2000.

Chief Information & Digital Technology Officer Vrijesh Nagathan joined Marico Limited in 2022 as the Chief Information & Digital Technology Officer. He is a seasoned technology leader with extensive experience of over 20 years in IT Leadership and Business Transformation, Project Management, Shared Services, Business Planning, Supply Chain & Manufacturing, across the FMCG, IT consulting, Automobile and Engineering industries.

Having joined Unilever in 2007 as a Senior Systems Manager, Vrijesh ascended through the ranks to become the Head IT of B2B Commerce Platforms. He led the B2B commerce IT initiatives across Unilever globally, managing IT / technology for areas across Supply Chain & Procurement, Commercial, B2B-commerce, Customer self-service Apps and POS solutions among others. He was associated with them for around 11 years on several assignments across India, Europe, UK, Africa & ASEAN.

He moved on to join Coca Cola in 2018, where he served as the Chief Information Officer, India & Southwest Asia, for three years with additional responsibility, as the Shared Services Lead. During his tenure, he led the IT Strategy and Execution for the overall Coca-Cola ecosystem across the India & Southwest Asia Business Unit. He was also responsible for the IT Roadmap, Deployment & Governance across 18 different franchise bottlers. In his role, he was responsible for transforming the way business is run and moving the needle on key technology adoption.

He began his career as an engineer with Kirloskar Electric Company and Widia (I) Limited and has also been associated with Ashok Leyland as Assistant Manager in 2003 and Bristlecone as Senior Consultant in 2004.

Vrijesh did his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering in 1998 from National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal and has completed his MBA in Operations Management from Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Pune. His interests include following the Battery technology, Green Energy, Sustainability & World-without-waste initiatives.