Brands
Google appoints Kanika Kalra as director of consumer apps and platforms marketing
Former McKinsey partner and Reckitt marketing leader to drive growth
MUMBAI: Google has appointed Kanika Kalra as director of consumer apps and platforms marketing, where she will lead marketing strategy and growth initiatives for the company’s consumer applications and platforms in the region.
Kalra brings more than two decades of experience across consulting, technology and consumer goods, with a career that has moved seamlessly between boardrooms, brand labs and digital platforms.
She joins Google after serving as regional marketing director for health at Reckitt in South Asia, a role she held from April 2024 to March 2026. There, she led marketing strategy for the company’s health portfolio across the region.
Before Reckitt, Kalra spent over six years at McKinsey & Company in Mumbai, rising through the ranks to become a partner. During her time at the consulting firm, she advised leading companies on growth strategy, marketing transformation and consumer engagement.
Her earlier career includes leadership roles across some of the biggest names in consumer brands and e-commerce. She served as vice president of marketing at Snapdeal, and previously worked at Unilever as global brand director, where she led core and innovation work on the Fair & Lovely portfolio.
Kalra also held marketing roles at Hindustan Unilever, PepsiCo Foods Private Limited and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, building experience across categories ranging from personal care to food and health products.
She began her professional journey at Genpact before moving into marketing and consulting roles that would define her career.
Kalra holds a PGDM in marketing from the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.
With experience that spans consumer brands, consulting and digital platforms, Kalra’s move to Google marks a return to the fast-moving world of tech, where marketing meets scale and strategy meets speed.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
