FDBusiness.com

Ulf Mark Schneider (pictured) will become the new CEO of Nestlé, starting on 1 January 2017. He will replace current CEO Paul Bulcke, who is due to succeed Peter Brabeck-Letmathe as Chairman of Nestlé.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, having served Nestlé for 50 years, of which 14 years on the Executive Board, 11 years as CEO and 12 years as Chairman, will have reached the mandatory age of retirement and is to relinquish all his board functions.

The Nestlé board of directors has decided to propose Paul Bulcke for election as Chairman at the next Annual General Meeting on 6 April 2017. In order to prepare for this future role as active, non-executive Chairman and respect a minimum cooling-off period, Paul Bulcke will resign from his present position as CEO on 31 December 2016.

Paul Bulcke.

Paul Bulcke was appointed CEO and member of the board of directors on 10 April 2008 and, under his successful leadership at the helm of the company for over 8 years, Nestlé has experienced industry-outperforming development and made further progress in its journey to become the leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness company.

The Nestlé board has also reconfirmed the long-term orientation for Nestlé as a Nutrition, Health and Wellness company and expressed the intention of fully integrating both Nestlé Health Science and Nestlé Skin Health into the Nestlé organization reporting directly to the CEO of Nestlé from 1 January 2017.

Ulf Mark Schneider has been CEO of Fresenius Group since 2003. Fresenius, which offers high-quality products and services for dialysis, hospitals and outpatient treatments, has prospered strongly under the leadership of Ulf Schneider over the past 13 years. Today, with over 220,000 employees in more than 100 countries and annual sales €28 billion, Fresenius is one of the world’s leading diversified healthcare companies.

In order to ensure a smooth hand-over phase, Ulf Mark Schneider will join Nestlé on 1 September 2016 for an introductory period. Together with Paul Bulcke, who is highly experienced in the area of fast moving consumer goods, the new team is ideally suited to accelerate Nestlé’s journey to become the world’s preeminent Nutrition, Health and Wellness company whilst fostering Nestlé’s values and principles.

Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe comments: “With the proposed appointment of Paul Bulcke as Chairman of the board and Ulf Mark Schneider as CEO, the board has increased the company’s capabilities to accelerate Nestlé’s journey to become the world’s preeminent player in the Nutrition, Health and Wellness sector. Together with our excellent executive team, Nestlé is well prepared to face the increasingly difficult external environment and deliver on both its long-term and short-term performance goals.”

Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke says: “I thank the board for their confidence in proposing me as Chairman and I’m looking forward to working with Ulf Mark Schneider for Nestlé’s continued success. Ulf Mark Schneider brings to Nestlé a wealth of proven and seasoned professional and personal skills which will blend very well with Nestlé’s experienced management and company culture.”

Ulf Mark Schneider remarks: “I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to join Nestlé. This is a truly iconic global company with a proud heritage and tremendous future prospects. With consumers around the world taking a deeper interest in their personal health and wellbeing, Nestlé’s industry-leading global food and beverage business positions it well for advancing the vision of Nutrition, Health and Wellness. I very much look forward to working with the Nestlé team and all Nestlé stakeholders as we continue to pursue this vision.”