Lake Forest, Illinois-based manufacturing company Tenneco has appointed Hari Nair to the company's board of directors. With the addition of Mr Nair, the Tenneco Board of Directors now has ten directors, including two inside members.

Mr Nair is executive vice president for Tenneco and president of the company’s International Group, responsible for managing all of Tenneco’s operations outside of North America and capitalizing on growth opportunities in Europe, South America, India and Asia Pacific. In 2008, these operations accounted for 66 percent of Tenneco’s total revenues.

Previously, Mr Nair served as executive vice president and managing director for Tenneco’s businesses in Europe, South America and India. In this position, he led a turnaround of the company’s European business, posting consistent annual growth on all key metrics and significantly improving operational performance to grow the European business during an industry down cycle.

Before that, Mr Nair was senior vice president and managing director of International for Tenneco, where he developed global alliances with Japanese partners. Mr Nair was also managing director and general manager for Tenneco South America and managing director for Tenneco Asia, where he forged many of the joint ventures the company operates today.

Mr Nair joined Tenneco Automotive in 1987 as manager of business planning, focusing on the company's early international expansion projects. Before joining Tenneco, Mr Nair was a senior financial analyst at General Motors Corporation.