A clear and compelling vision of the future, combined with a will to inspire others to work towards achieving those goals, has made Mr Ranjith Nair an exceptional leader among his peers.

With a deep understanding of the current state of his niche, Mr Ranjith is exceptionally well-versed in identifying and capitalizing on emerging trends and technologies to utilize them to achieve the desired results.

Having two decades of executive experience managing diverse responsibilities spanning operational and functional roles in more than 30 countries; encompassing Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific, Mr Ranjith today leads as the Vice-president of the Asia-Pacific Industrial Merchant Business Line in Air Liquide.

Strong Roots

Mr Ranjith completed his master’s in business degree from a premier Business school and a diploma in Business Excellence from Newcastle College, UK. Ranjith Nair is also a trained performance coach who is a keen believer in diversity and has been an ardent advocate for harnessing the best business results through the harmonious use of human talents.

With advanced leadership training stints in the London Business School and China Europe International Business School, Ranjith is a firm believer in empowering youth for a better tomorrow and allocates a significant portion of his time to mentoring and coaching young talents across the globe. He is also a professionally trained and practicing Coach.

Renowned Career

Mr Ranjith started his career as a maintenance engineer in the United Arab Emirates with the most prominent family-owned Industrial gas company in the Middle East and Africa. Ranjith progressed through nearly nine different technical, commercial, and general management roles in his career progression with this organization for over thirteen years.

After over 13 years with this organization, which progressively became a joint venture with a global leader, Ranjith moved to another worldwide leader in the Gases and Services segment: Air Liquide in Saudi Arabia, as the Vice President, Engineering, with a newly acquired entity of Airliquide in Saudi Arabia in 2009. In his stint of over three years in Saudi Arabia, he was responsible for setting up and running a Business Unit for specialty gases in the GCC region, in addition to leading the business and driving the company based in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia and integrating the newly acquired entity to Air Liquide.

In 2013 he moved to Dubai to be the CEO/Managing Director of UAE and Iraq Operations in the country, managing more than five companies, including joint ventures. Ranjith traversed various technical, operational, and functional roles in the Middle East and Africa region before taking up his role as the Vice President of the Industrial Merchant Business Line spanning eight countries in Southeast Asia and Taiwan in 2019. Ranjith Nair is currently the Vice-president of the Asia-Pacific Industrial Merchant Business Line in Air Liquide, covering 13 countries.

Mr Ranjith has extensive expertise, knowledge, and high cultural agility in managing global and regional operations with Products and Services in Gases, Engineering & Equipment (Welding, Hardgoods, Safety and more) in diverse geographies across Europe, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam), Taiwan, Africa (15+ countries), the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent.

His core expertise lies in maneuvering businesses and functions through business turnarounds and transformation and leading teams through a growth phase with a vision of carbon neutrality; while leveraging technology and digital tools to drive sales effectiveness, operational excellence, and data insights.

His contribution to business and track record of building effective and high-performance teams across diverse cultures, geographies, and nationalities to deliver sustainable performance has brought him multiple laurels and recognition in related industries. He was also featured in the prestigious FORBES magazine among the TOP 100 Executives in the Middle East (2018, 2019) and the TOP 30 Indian Executives in the Middle East (2019).

Inventing a Sustainable Future

Air Liquide is a world leader in gases, technologies, and services for Industry and Health, present in 75 countries with approximately 66,400 employees and serving more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Air Liquide brings all its employees together by fostering their spirit of initiative, innovation, responsibility, and professionalism. It promotes collaborative work and knowledge-sharing.

Air Liquide is also a significant contributor to sustainable development:

• In the industrial field, Air Liquide develops and provides technologies, products, and services that, when integrated into its customers’ production processes, improve their effectiveness and quality, and reduce emissions.

• In the energy and natural resources field, Air Liquide develops and uses technologies that contribute significantly to improving the global ecological balance.

The company takes part in the economic and social development of the regions where it operates through its technical, industrial, medical, and financial activities and undertakes philanthropic initiatives that focus on protecting life and the environment and developing local communities. These initiatives are carried out directly by Group’s subsidiaries or the Air Liquide Foundation.

Air Liquide’s organization is based on the duality of its business, which is both local and global. A flexible organization that is close to the customer enables Airliquide to:

• Listen to its customer’s needs and meet their expectations in each regional market.

• Guarantee the safety, availability, and reliability of services.

• Mobilize talents and initiative.

• Ensure a rapid operational response to day-to-day issues.

The Group’s functional and business line management teams define an operating framework with the geographic entities. The latter makes it possible to implement strategy consistently and rapidly depending on market conditions, clarify implementation processes, disseminate know-how, and enhance people’s development. This framework is reviewed periodically to adapt to changes in the environment.

Passing the legacy

Ranjith is a staunch believer of the quote by Winston Churchill, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Mr Ranjith’s professional journey and growth within Airliquide are an embodiment of the rich culture and values of Air Liquide. Despite facing various challenges in his decades of professional experience, Ranjith believes in upholding integrity, grit, perseverance, and delivering with passion as Key contributors to his success.

When asked about how he manages his expectations and continues to be an inspiration to young talent; he emphasized that he always strives to create an environment of candid feedback and continuous learning, where the teams are continuously motivated to outperform themselves and conditioned to be in a mindset of ‘Excellence;’ while upholding the values of the organization.