Godrej Consumer Products’ sudden leadership change illustrates how corporate India selects its chief executives and what qualities it now prioritizes.
Sudhir Sitapati, a prominent marketing leader, stepped down three days after shareholders approved his reappointment for another five-year term. His replacement, Aasif Malbari, comes from a finance background. The transition appears straightforward—a brand strategist handing over to a financial executive—but the circumstances reveal a deeper shift.
From brand custodian to enterprise operator
When Sitapati joined Godrej Consumer Products in 2021, the company described him as a “passionate marketer,” highlighting his work on Surf Excel, Lifebuoy, and Brooke Bond. However, he did not move directly from marketing into the top role. By then, he had led Hindustan Unilever’s foods and refreshments division, managed a profit-and-loss statement, and overseen the integration of GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer healthcare business.
His resignation letter did not reference the brands he built or his reputation in marketing. Instead, it focused on shareholder returns compared to the Nifty FMCG index, analyst ratings, revenue growth, and underlying volume expansion. The emphasis was on overall business performance.
Malbari, the new CEO, is not merely a finance executive who secured the position. He served as GCPL’s global finance chief and president of Godrej Africa, where he improved EBITDA margins from 9% in FY24 to a projected 15% in FY26. Nisaba Godrej, the company’s executive chairperson, outlined his mandate as delivering “ambitious, disciplined execution rigour.”
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The change is not about replacing a marketer with a finance specialist. It reflects a transition from one business operator to another, each with a different functional foundation.
The data behind the shift
Research from executive search firms confirms the trend. An Executive Access analysis of over 300 new CEO hires in 2023-24 found that 45% came from sales and marketing backgrounds, down from an estimated 80% a decade earlier. A separate 2022 study of first-time CEOs showed operations accounting for 34% of appointments, sales 28%, and marketing only 9%. Meanwhile, a Spencer Stuart review of 128 BSE 200 CEO transitions since 2020 revealed that more than half of the new leaders had over 15 years of P&L ownership.
The figures do not align perfectly, but the pattern is unmistakable. The path to the top role no longer depends on a single function. It requires sustained accountability for business outcomes, most often demonstrated through P&L or operating responsibilities. This explains why CFOs, COOs, and business heads are increasingly considered for CEO positions. While finance provides control over capital and risk, those who ascend to the top role typically bring additional experience in strategy, transformation, or operations.
Marketing has not vanished from the CEO pipeline. A WalkWater Talent study of 317 current consumer-sector CEOs found that 63% had prior sales and marketing expertise. The distinction is that few now advance directly from the CMO role. Priya Nair, appointed HUL CEO in August 2025, had extensive marketing experience but took the top job after serving as president of Beauty and Wellbeing, overseeing a global business.
Marketing skills remain valuable, though the title itself may no longer carry the same weight.
The shift is not solely driven by boards seeking different expertise. The role of marketing has evolved. A creative error today can escalate into social media backlash, political controversy, or calls for boycotts. Innovation failures are more visible, while quarterly pressures make experimentation harder to justify. Dashboards and attribution models make incremental improvements easier to measure than bold creativity. The result is a function that, in some cases, has become more cautious.
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Traditionally, marketers who reached the top were not just strong communicators. They identified cultural shifts, created new categories, and supported ideas before evidence was complete. These were business leadership qualities, not just marketing skills. If parts of the function have moved away from that expansive approach, it may explain why fewer marketers are viewed as natural CEO candidates.
The new route to the top
The concept of the “M-shaped marketer” has gained attention in recent years—someone with deep consumer insight but also expertise in business, technology, commerce, and data. The principle is clear: future CEOs must understand capital, own outcomes, and take responsibility for decisions beyond the marketing budget.
Godrej Consumer Products did not choose finance over marketing. It selected a finance leader whose role had expanded into strategy, international operations, and business transformation. The competition is not between functions but between functional expertise and overall business leadership. The pure marketer may be less common in the CEO pipeline, but those who can run a business remain in demand.
The path from CMO to CEO still exists, though it now requires experience managing a profit-and-loss statement.
This transition reflects broader changes in corporate expectations. Companies increasingly value leaders who can balance creativity with financial discipline, a shift that signals new priorities in executive roles.