Nestle has selected health care executive Ulf Mark Schneider as its new CEO, the first chief executive brought in from outside the company since 1922 as the food and drinks giant seeks to evolve into a nutrition, health and wellness business.
The company based in Vevey, Switzerland, announced late Monday that Schneider, a 50-year-old German and American dual national, will succeed current CEO Paul Bulcke starting Jan. 1. Schneider has headed health care giant Fresenius Group since 2003.
Bulcke is taking over as non-executive chairman from Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who is retiring after 50 years with the company known for its eponymous chocolates as well as bottled water, Dreyer's ice cream, Gerber baby food and Lean Cuisine frozen meals.
Brabeck-Letmathe noted the transition amid an "increasingly difficult external environment" for Nestle, which reported a 37 percent drop in net profit last year due to a stronger Swiss franc and one-time items linked to deal-making.
Nestle also has been beset by product recalls, notably a setback to its Asian operations last year after pulling Maggi noodles from store shelves in India for five months after the popular snack was found to contain lead above permissible limits.
Schneider's appointment appears to reflect Nestle's push into health and nutrition, an area many large food makers are trying to highlight. Since 2011, the company has operated its Nestle Institute of Health Sciences, which researches and develops "nutritional solutions for the maintenance of health."
Food companies in general have sought to burnish their reputations on health and nutrition matters to address concerns about growing obesity rates. Nestle said earlier this year it supported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's guidelines for voluntary sodium reduction for food makers, and announced its own plans to further reduce sodium in its products.
And candy giant Mars, which makes M&Ms, Snickers and other products including Uncle Ben's rice, recently announced plans to label its food products as "everyday" and "occasional," to help people make better choices. Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. in 2014 also pledged to reduce the calories Americans get from beverages by 20 percent over the next decade by more aggressively marketing smaller sizes and diet drinks.
In some cases, the moves reflect the direction consumers were headed in anyway. The calories people get from drinks, for instance, had already been falling in recent years as people shifted toward diet drinks, according to industry tracker Beverage Digest.
Civil rights groups call on major corporations to stick with DEI programs
A broad group of civil rights organizations called on the CEOs and board members of major companies Thursday to maintain their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have come under attack online and in lawsuits.
An open letter signed by 19 organizations and directed at the leaders of Fortune 1000 companies said companies that abandon their DEI programs are shirking their fiduciary responsibility to employees, consumers and shareholders.
The civil rights groups included the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
"Diversity, equity and inclusion programs, policies, and practices make business-sense and they're broadly popular among the public, consumers, and employees," their statement read. "But a small, well-funded, and extreme group of right-wing activists is attempting to pressure companies into abandoning their DEI programs."
Companies such as Ford, Lowes, John Deere, Molson Coors and Harley-Davidson recently announced they would pull back on their diversity, equity and inclusion policies after facing pressure from conservative activists who were emboldened by recent victories in the courtroom.
Many major corporations have been examining their diversity programs in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last year that declared race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions unconstitutional. Dozens of cases have been filed making similar arguments about employers. Critics of DEI programs say the initiatives provide benefits to people of one race or sexual orientation while excluding others.
In their letter, the civil rights organizations, which also included... Read More