“Nestlé is a strong company with global reach, exceptional demand generation and in-market capabilities. We have a diverse and strategically well-positioned product portfolio. Our iconic brands and innovative products connect with people every day, at every stage of their lives. These strengths give us a unique advantage and position us to win in the marketplace. We will now invest further in our brands and growth platforms to unlock the full potential of our products for our consumers and our customers,” said Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO. “Our action plan will also improve the way we operate, making us more efficient, responsive and agile. This will allow us to deliver value for all our stakeholders. I am confident that we can deliver superior, sustainable and profitable growth and gain market share, while transforming Nestlé for long-term success.”

Nestlé’s action plan is designed to allow the company to drive category growth and improve market share performance. Actions will include targeted investments in winning brands and growth platforms, more focused innovation activities to drive greater impact, and systematically addressing underperformers. Nestlé will step up investment in advertising and marketing to support growth. The necessary resources will be generated through cost savings and growth leverage.

In addition to the ongoing programs, Nestlé aims to deliver incremental cost savings of at least CHF 2.5 billion by the end of 2027 through key initiatives across procurement, commercial investments and structural costs. The company will also accelerate its digital transformation to be a real time, end-to-end connected enterprise, powered by data and artificial intelligence. It is additionally ensuring that sustainability is embedded into its activities.

As part of the action plan to drive operational performance and unlock potential, Nestlé’s water and premium beverages activities will become a global standalone business under the leadership of Muriel Lienau, head of Nestlé Waters Europe, as of 1 January 2025. The new management will evaluate the strategy for this business. This will include exploring partnership opportunities to enable Nestlé’s iconic brands and growth platforms to achieve their full potential.

Nestlé’s strategy includes accelerating its categories through expanding existing strengths, such as expanding its most successful brands and increasing exposure to growing channels. Within coffee, targeted growth areas include out-of-home coffee, ready-to-drink coffee, and cold coffee concentrates.

Nestlé said its action plan will allow the company “to deliver superior, sustainable and profitable growth.” In the medium term, organic sales growth is expected to be at 4% plus in a normal operating environment, with an underlying operating profit margin of 17.0% plus.

Nestlé confirmed 2024 guidance, with organic sales growth of around 2%, underlying trading operating profit margin of around 17.0% and underlying EPS broadly flat in constant currency. Looking ahead to 2025, Nestlé expects an improvement in organic sales growth compared to 2024, with the underlying trading operating profit margin anticipated to be moderately lower than the 2024 guidance.

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 Zone Latin America (LATAM) and Zone North America (NA) will merge to form Zone Americas (AMS), which will be led by Steve Presley. He will relocate to Nestlé’s headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland.
 Zone Greater China Region (GCR) will become part of Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA), under the leadership of Remy Ejel. David Zhang will step down from the Executive Board and will remain Chairman and CEO of the Greater China Region.
 Zone Europe (EUR) will continue to be led by Guillaume Le Cunff and remains unchanged.

Laurent Freixe, Nestlé CEO, said, “A leaner Executive Board structure and close collaboration of the leadership team at the headquarters will increase simplicity, speed up decision-making and strengthen the momentum behind global initiatives. We will continue to build on the strengths of our Market Heads to ensure consistent in-market execution across the Group.” Pursuant to the reducing the Executive Board, Freixe announced:

 Bernard Meunier has decided to step down from the Executive Board on 31 March 2025, and will lead strategic projects for the Group. David Rennie, currently head of Nestlé Coffee Brands will succeed Bernard Meunier as the head of Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and Marketing and Sales. Nestlé Coffee Brands, with the exception of Nespresso, will be integrated into the SBU organisation.
 Nespresso is led by Philipp Navratil. He will join the Executive Board and now report directly to Nestlé CEO Freixe. Philipp Navratil is known for his ability to inspire and motivate people. He has extensive global experience across various roles and a profound understanding of Nestlé.
 Nestlé Health Science will continue to be led by Anna Mohl.
 Antonia Wanner, who leads the Sustainability Unit, will now report directly to Freixe without holding a position on the Executive Board.

Starting in 2025, Nestlé’s reporting will comprise five segments: Zone AMS, Zone AOA, Zone EUR, Nestlé Health Science and Nespresso. The company will also continue to voluntarily report sales performance each quarter for North America and for Latin America within Zone AMS and for Greater China within Zone AOA.

Freixe added, “With these organisational changes, all the leaders of key units driving our performance and our transformation will now report directly to me. This is crucial, as we sharpen our focus on consumers and customers and restore investment in our brands and in innovation to expand market share and accelerate our performance. Going forward, we are also placing a greater emphasis on Nestlé’s digital transformation into a real-time, end-to-end connected, data- and AI-powered organisation. I am confident these changes will optimally position Nestlé for future success.”

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Mark Schneider, CEO, has decided to relinquish his roles as CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Over his eight years with the company, he has actively shaped the company’s portfolio, in line with Nestlé’s strategy and with a focus on high-growth categories like coffee, pet care and nutritional health products.

Laurent Freixe joined Nestlé in France in 1986. Since then, he has continuously progressed within the company, assuming various positions of increasing responsibility across different businesses, markets and Zones. He successfully managed Zone Europe during the financial and economic crisis, from 2008 until 2014. He then took over as CEO of Zone Americas, where he accelerated growth. Following the creation of Nestlé’s new Zone structure in 2022, Laurent Freixe was named CEO Zone Latin America, where he has been successfully leading through challenging conditions.

Laurent Freixe has been a member of the Executive Board for 16 years and, as such, has played an important role in strengthening the strategic direction of the company and its portfolio. With his profound understanding of Nestlé’s culture and values, he has led several global corporate initiatives to improve productivity, increase operational efficiency, simplify processes and drive innovation. Additionally, Laurent Freixe is committed to developing future leaders and talents, as evidenced by his active role in the Nestlé Leadership and Training Programs as well as the Nestlé Needs YOUth initiative, which promotes youth employment.

“The Board of Directors is delighted to announce the appointment of Laurent as the new CEO. I have known Laurent for a long time and highly regard him as a talented leader with strategic acumen, extensive in-market experience and expertise as well as a deep understanding of markets and consumers. He has demonstrated his ability to deliver results in challenging market conditions,” said Paul Bulcke, chairman of the board. “Laurent’s curiosity fuels his passion for innovation and positive change. Laurent is the perfect fit for Nestlé at this time. Under his leadership, Nestlé will further strengthen its position as a dependable, reliable company through consistent and sustainable value creation.”

Bulcke added, “I would also like to express our gratitude to Mark for his significant contributions to Nestlé and for his outstanding, steady leadership in turbulent times. Mark has been instrumental in the great progress we have made on our sustainability agenda. We extend our best wishes to him in all his professional and personal endeavours.”

Commenting on his appointment, Laurent Freixe said, “I am privileged to have been given the opportunity to continue building and strengthening Nestlé, and I am excited to take on this responsibility. There will always be challenges, but we have unparalleled strengths, such as iconic brands and products, an unmatched global presence, leading innovation and execution capabilities, and above all, exceptional people and teams. We can strategically position Nestlé to lead and win everywhere we operate.”

Mark Schneider commented on his tenure, noting, “Leading Nestlé for the past 8 years has been an honour for me. I am grateful for what we have achieved, having transformed Nestlé into a future-proofed, innovative and sustainable business. I would like to thank the entire Nestlé community for what we have accomplished together and wish Laurent all the best in his new role.”

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In 2023, twenty grants of 10,000 USD each will be awarded to young leaders, entrepreneurs and youth organizations to help them create and implement changemaking solutions for social impact. Grantees will benefit from training sessions and mentoring throughout the development of their projects from Nestlé’s and UNESCO’s experts. With UNESCO’s support, the grantees will also showcase their ideas and solutions to policy makers and civil society actors, to increase impact.

A global jury composed of young leaders and experts from Nestlé and UNESCO will assess the applications. The grantees, aged 18-30, will be selected on the basis of their potential to achieve social change in their communities.

This partnership aims to help young people to reach their full potential at a moment when the multiple crises are affecting the world. Countries struggle to recover from the impacts of the Covid 19 Pandemic, prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change and contend with the shocks of the war in Ukraine. Youth are among those most affected: their mental health is deteriorating – 80% of young people across the globe are vulnerable to depression and disillusionment,¹ and more than one in five young people (under 25) are not in employment, education or training, compromising their future employment prospects.² Young women are particularly vulnerable to poor mental health and poverty. The fact that young people now number more than 1.2 billion, increases the urgency of this call.

“Young people must be given the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and innovators. They drive economic and social progress and yet, the world does not support them enough. They lack financial support and are not part of decision-making. Through this exciting new partnership with UNESCO, we hope to make a difference and help future leaders find their voice and put their ideas into practice,” said Laurent Freixe, Nestlé’s CEO for Zone Latin America and founder of the Nestlé Needs YOUth initiative, launched in 2013.

This new partnership builds on Nestlé’s 10 years of youth empowerment through its Nestlé needs YOUth initiative. With the goal of enabling 10 million young people around the world access economic opportunities by 2030, the initiative helps youth gain access to apprenticeships, traineeships and job opportunities. Globally, it has benefited more than 5 million young people across the three pillars: employment & employability, agripreneurship and entrepreneurship. Partnering with UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector is an important step in Nestlé’s commitment to youth.

“Young people deserve a chance to succeed, and by succeeding, to change the world. We cannot continue with business as usual; UNESCO is partnering with Nestlé, to help bring young peoples’ ideas to fruition so they can help transform our society. Our joint program will create a space for young people to have impact, inspiring many others, old and young, to follow suit. The solution to the multiple crises we experience is to have all young hands-on deck.” Gabriela Ramos, assistant director-general for Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO.

‘Because Youth Matter‘ is part of UNESCO’s Global Youth Grant Scheme, a program that mobilizes financial and in-kind support for young people around the world. The program also benefits from the Organization’s 20 years of experience working with young people worldwide by establishing and supporting youth-led initiatives and networks, strengthening youth capacities, fostering their knowledge production, through the ‘Young as Researchers Initiative’ and creating dialogue spaces between youth, policymakers and other partners.

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