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Ulf Mark Schneider
Schneider in 2019
Born (1965-09-09) 9 September 1965 (age 58)
Neuwied, West Germany
CitizenshipGerman, American
Education University of St. Gallen
Harvard Business School
TitleCEO, Nestlé
TermJanuary 2017-
Predecessor Paul Bulcke
Spouse Anne van Aaken

Ulf Mark Schneider (born 9 September 1965) is a German-American businessman, and the CEO of Nestlé since 2017. He is the former CEO of the healthcare group Fresenius SE.

Early life

Schneider was born and raised in Neuwied, Germany. He became a U.S. citizen in 2003. [1] He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. [2]

Career

Schneider was group finance director for Gehe UK plc, a pharmaceutical wholesale and retail distributor, in Coventry, England. Schneider held several senior executive positions starting in 1989 with Gehe's majority shareholder, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, a diversified German industrial company. [3]

Schneider joined Fresenius in November 2001, when he was appointed chief financial officer of Fresenius Medical Care. From May 2003 until June 2016 he was CEO of the parent company Fresenius. Under Schneider's leadership of Fresenius, the number of employees more than tripled, revenue quadrupled and net income increased twelvefold. [4] While Schneider was CEO, Fresenius also carried out a number of major strategic acquisitions: the private hospital chain HELIOS Kliniken in 2005; US dialysis provider Renal Care Group, in 2006; US pharmaceutical company APP Pharmaceuticals, in 2008; Liberty Dialysis, another major dialysis provider in the US, in 2011; and, in 2014, the purchase of 41 hospitals from Rhön-Klinikum, through which HELIOS became the largest private hospital operator in Germany. [5]

In June 2016, Schneider was appointed CEO of Nestlé S.A., replacing Paul Bulcke. He started as CEO in January 2017. [6] Schneider is the first outsider to run Nestlé since 1922. [7] In 2017, Schneider announced the intent to focus capital spending on higher-growth categories of coffee, pet food, baby food and water and added consumer health to the list of priorities. [8] He divested U.S. confections and ice cream businesses in a multibillion-dollar deals [9] [10] and led acquisitions of Atrium Health, [11] Blue Bottle Coffee (majority stake), [12] Sweet Earth Foods, Chameleon Cold-Brew, [13] Tails.com, [14] Freshly, [15] and the Starbucks retail brand.

Schneider took the company out of stagnant product categories like bottled water and expanded into growing markets like supplements and plant proteins. [16] Nestlé completed 85 acquisitions, [16] while also selling many Nestlé businesses like the skincare division in order to focus on the food and beverage markets. [17] Sales growth accelerated. [16] According to Financial Times, Schneider also led "some of the sector’s more ambitious environmental targets," such as a $2 billion effort to improve the recyclability of Nestlé's product packaging. [16]

Schneider chaired the European advisory board of Harvard Business School until 2016 and was on the board of directors of the American chemical company DuPont from 2014 to 2017. [18]

In March 2022, Denys Shmyhal, the prime minister of Ukraine, criticized Schneider for not showing 'understanding' as the latter reportedly refused to suspend operations of Nestlé in Russia during the invasion of Ukraine. [19] Shmyhal said that 'paying taxes to the budget of a terrorist country means killing defenseless children & mothers'. [20] Nestle later suspended shipment of non-essential items but continued to produce essential food items in Russia. The company said that "our activities in Russia will focus on providing essential food, such as infant food and medical/hospital nutrition". [19]

Personal life

Schneider is married to German lawyer, economist, and professor Anne van Aaken. [21]

References

  1. ^ "Curriculum vitae" (PDF). nestle.com. Nestle. June 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Management Board – Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA". Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  3. ^ "New Blood Invigorates Dialysis Company". Business Week. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Fresenius appoints Stephan Sturm as new Chief Executive Officer – Ulf Mark Schneider leaves the company to pursue another opportunity – Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA". Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  5. ^ "History – Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA". Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Nestle's press release on June 27th, 2016". www.nestle.com. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  7. ^ Blackstone, Brian; Chaudhuri, Saabira (27 June 2016). "Nestlé Taps Ulf Mark Schneider as Next CEO". Wall Street Journal. ISSN  0099-9660. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  8. ^ Keidan, Silke Koltrowitz, Maiya (29 June 2017). "Nestle plan hailed as only the start of Schneider's shake-up". Reuters. Retrieved 8 June 2021.{{ cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  9. ^ "Let's make a deal: How Nestlé is using M&A and multibillion-dollar divestitures to shape its portfolio". Food Dive. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Factbox: Nestle CEO Schneider's top deals". Reuters. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Nestlé to buy vitamin maker Atrium Innovations for $2.3bn". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Nestlé acquires a majority stake in Blue Bottle Coffee at a valuation north of $700M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 8 June 2021.[ permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "Nestlé Expands Portfolio with Acquisition of Chameleon Cold Brew". Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. 3 November 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Nestle buys majority stake in British dog food group Tails.com". Reuters. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Nestle buys U.S. meal delivery group Freshly". Reuters. 31 October 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  16. ^ a b c d "A tough test on Russia for the man who turned round Nestlé". Financial Times. 25 March 2022.
  17. ^ Gretler, Thomas Mulier & Corinne (20 September 2018). "Nestle puts skin health unit up for possible $8 billion sale". mint. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  18. ^ "DowDuPont Inc. – DowDuPont Board of Directors". www.dupont.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  19. ^ a b Gibson, Kate (23 March 2022). "As war rages in Ukraine, Nestle suspends sales of KitKat and Nesquik in Russia". CBS News. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  20. ^ Hetzner, Christiaan (18 March 2022). "Nestle CEO accused of aiding the 'killing of defenseless children and mothers'". Fortune. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  21. ^ Schütz, Dirk. "Neuer Nestlé-CEO Schneider: Brabecks letzter Coup" [New Nestlé CEO Schneider: Brabeck's last coup]. BILANZ. Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz AG. Retrieved 15 June 2021.

External links

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