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Nestle Consolidates Geographic Business Zones, Shuffles Executive Board

Oct. 18, 2024

After weaker than expected quarterly sales growth once again, leading to the company lowering its full-year outlook, Nestle is revamping its senior team and organizational structure.

Andy Hanacek

In the wake of weaker than expected sales growth, Nestle announced it will rework its executive board and consolidate its geographic structure.

The changes to the organization’s structure, which take effect Jan. 1, 2025, include: merging its Latin America and North America zones to form “Zone Americas” (Zone AMS); and consolidating its Zone Greater China Region into Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa (Zone AOA). Zone Europe (Zone EUR) will remain unchanged, the company noted.

This means reporting for Nestle will comprise five segments, starting in 2025: Zone AMS, Zone AOA, Zone EUR, Nestle Health Science, and Nespresso. The company noted it would continue to voluntarily report quarterly sales performance for North America, Latin America and Greater China within their new primary business zones.

Nestle also has announced various leadership changes, in conjunction with these structural modifications and additional inputs.

Steve Presley will lead the new Zone Americas group and will relocate to Nestle headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. David Zhang will remain chairman and CEO of the Greater China Region but will step down from the executive board. Remy Ejel will lead the Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa group.

Bernard Meunier will step down from the executive board on March 31, 2025, and will lead strategic products for the group. David Rennie will replace Meunier as head of Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and Marketing and Sales. Rennie is currently head of Nestle Coffee Brands, which will be integrated into the SBU organization (with the exception of Nespresso).

Meanwhile, Nespresso’s Philipp Navratil will join the executive board and report directly to Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe. Also, Anna Lenz, currently country manager of Nestle Portugal will lead human resources and join the executive board.

Béatrice Guillaume-Grabisch, head of Human Resources and Business Services, is stepping down to pursue other career opportunities. Chris Wright, chief information officer, and Antonia Wanner, who leads the sustainability unit, both will report to Freixe but not hold a position on the executive board.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.