Brands
Suchita Salwan joins Airtel as chief customer officer
MUMBAI: Airtel has welcomed Suchita Salwan as its new chief customer officer, bringing a wealth of experience from India’s startup and luxury sectors. She will spearhead growth and brand strategy across Airtel’s B2C portfolio.
Salwan, founder of lifestyle platform LBB, which was acquired by Nykaa in 2022, has a decade-long track record of building brands and driving engagement. At LBB, she scaled revenues by 100 per cent in a single year and grew the platform to reach over 70 million users monthly. She also led Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa’s content and brand marketing teams, delivering innovative campaigns that blended data-driven insights with consumer storytelling.
Thrilled about her new role, Salwan said, “Airtel offers impact, independence, and people at a scale few companies can match. I’m looking forward to building with a team known for resilience and ambition.”
Her appointment marks another high-profile hire for Airtel as it continues to sharpen its customer experience and brand presence in a fiercely competitive telecom market. With Salwan at the helm, Airtel is set to combine creativity with strategy, bringing fresh energy to its consumer-facing operations.
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.
