Nerisha Charlton takes on international people leadership role at Royal Canin

Sphumelele Khumalo 04 August 2026

Nerisha Charlton has been appointed people and organisation director for the international division at Royal Canin, expanding her leadership remit to support the pet nutrition company's operations across 115 markets in Latin America, Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa.

Nerisha joined Royal Canin in 2024 as director of people & organisation for South Africa.

Before joining Royal Canin, she spent more than six years at Mars, where she held the roles of cross segment transformation talent lead, talent director for Mars multisales for Europe & Africa, director of people & organisation & global food supply program lead, and director of people & organisation.

Earlier in her career, she was group HR manager at OSHO Group of Companies, business unit HR manager for sales, marketing and shared services at AfriSam, and started her career in an HR management role at Pick n Pay.

Academically, Nerisha holds a bachelor of social science degree and an honours degree in HR management from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as a qualification in retail management from the Durban University of Technology.

Sphumelele Khumalo

Sphumelele Khumalo is the senior writer for CHRO South Africa. With a background in health journalism, she brings a passion for storytelling and an interest in exploring the human side of every story, one word at a time. When she’s not meeting deadlines, you might find her experimenting in the kitchen, or chasing sunsets.

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