Nestlé appoints Laurent Freixe as new boss

Laurent Freixe MUTO/William Gammuto

Swiss food multinational Nestlé has surprisingly appointed a new CEO. Laurent Freixe will take over from Mark Schneider on September 1, according to a press release issued on Thursday evening.

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Schneider has decided to step down from his roles as CEO and member of the Board of Directors and leave the company, the press release continued.

Freixe, a French citizen, has been with Nestlé since 1986. He is currently Executive Vice President and CEO of the Latin America region, which has been united since 2022. Prior to that, he was Head of Europe and the Americas, among other positions. He has also been a member of the Executive Board for 16 years. As CEO, he will now also join the Board of Directors.

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“Laurent is exactly the kind of leader Nestlé needs right now,” said Paul Bulcke, Chairman of the Board of Directors. With him, Nestlé will further expand its position as a reliable company with consistent and sustainable value creation, he said.

Mark Schneider joined Nestlé from outside the company in 2017. Prior to that, he was head of the German healthcare company Fresenius for many years.

His appointment was a surprise at the time. Nestlé had only ever appointed an external candidate as CEO once before in its long history. At the time of Schneider’s appointment, the now appointed Freixe was already considered a possible candidate for the CEO position.

Schneider was seen as a beacon of hope when he took office and impressed with his strategic steps. In recent quarters, however, the food multinational has disappointed with some of its figures. This was also recently reflected in the share price, which has performed poorly in recent months.

Latin American focus

Freixe, a graduate of the private EDHEC Business School, has not only been a member of Nestlé’s Executive Board for 16 years. The Latin American business, which he most recently headed, is also particularly important for the Group. The region comprises around 700 million people, roughly the same number as Europe.

The contribution to Nestlé’s sales is also above average in relation to the size of the population. It was therefore an ideal position for Freixe to prepare for the top position at the Group. Brazil and Mexico, ranked third and fifth respectively, are among Nestlé’s most important individual markets.

“Some countries like Chile are among the most productive,” Freixe said last year in an interview with Finanz und Wirtschaft. Nestlé operates over 60 production sites in 16 countries in the region, even in politically complicated markets such as Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.

Freixe has not only worked in Latin America, but has also led several global initiatives with the aim of increasing productivity and efficiency, simplifying processes and driving innovation, Nestlé wrote in the communiqué. He was quoted in the press release as saying that he wanted to “achieve market leadership” wherever Nestlé is currently present.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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