Diageo appoints Nik Jhangiani as CFO

Lavanya Chandrashekar will step down as chief financial officer (CFO) at Diageo in autumn after three years in the role.

She joined Diageo in 2018 and will now return to the US. Diageo said she has been ‘instrumental in accelerating Diageo’s productivity agenda’.

Chandrashekar, who took on the CFO role in July 2021, said: “I am proud to have overseen a strong period of growth for Diageo, and to have embedded a culture of productivity and efficiency which will set the business up for long-term success.

“I am very grateful to my exceptionally talented finance, data and technology, and shared service operations teams, and I wish Debra [Crew, CEO] and all my Diageo colleagues the best for the future.”

Incoming CFO Nik Jhangiani is currently serving in the same role at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners. He has more than 30 years’ experience in finance, having worked in the UK, Europe, India, Africa and the US.

He was previously CFO and senior vice-president at Coca-Cola Enterprises.

Jhangiani said: “I am delighted to be joining Diageo. It is an organisation I have long admired and one of the world’s most respected and trusted consumer businesses. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to drive value for Diageo’s shareholders, and to support the company’s strong track record of building and sustaining exceptional brands.”

Diageo’s most recent financial report revealed that sales had dropped by 0.6%, which the firm blamed on a “worse than expected” consumer environment and high inventory levels.

Chief executive Debra Crew said: “I am delighted that Nik will be joining us. He is a highly experienced CFO with a proven global track record of generating growth across multiple consumer businesses and industries.

“Nik’s experience and international mindset will make him a strong addition to our leadership team.

“I am grateful to Lavanya for her leadership over the past six years and her contribution as Diageo successfully expanded our business through a global pandemic and delivered major productivity savings.

“I want to thank Lavanya for being a trusted colleague and partner to me, both when we worked together in North America, and more recently as I took on the role of chief executive officer. On behalf of all Diageo colleagues, I wish her much future success as she returns to the US.

“With a strong focus on execution, we will continue to invest behind our world-leading brands to create value for shareholders and maintain our position as an industry leader in total beverage alcohol, which we strongly believe is an attractive sector with a long runway for growth.”

Diageo welcomed more than one million people to its visitor experiences in Scotland for the first time last year.