Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
For a good part of the 2000s, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has been at the fulcrum of Nestlé’s success as one of the world’s premier food and beverage companies.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe helmed the gigantic food group as chief executive from 1997 to 2008. He has occupied the chairmanship of Nestle’s board since 2005.
Brabeck-Letmathe paid his dues en route to Nestlé’s pinnacle. He started out as a salesman, and later a specialist for new products, in Nestlé Austria in 1968.
Two years later, he flew to Latin America, where Nestlé was to billet him for most of the next decades. At first, he became Nestlé Chile’s national sales manager and marketing director. Then in 1981, he was promoted to CEO of Nestlé Ecuador. He became CEO yet again in 1983, this time for Nestlé Venezuela.
He returned to Europe for good in 1987, when he landed a top post at Nestlé’s global headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. He was tasked to lead the group’s worldwide culinary products division as senior vice president.
In 1992, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe was appointed executive vice president of the company. The position made him leader of the strategic business groups across the globe, such as food, confectionery, ice cream, pet care, and industrial products. Simultaneously, it placed marketing, communications, and public affairs under his wing.
In June 1997, Nestlé shareholders enlisted him as CEO of the entire company. Later in April 2001, the board voted him vice chairman.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe vacated the chief executive post in April 2008. Nestlé’s chairmanship aside, he is currently engrossed with multiple board memberships.
He serves as vice chairman of both the boards of L’Oréal and Credit Suisse Group. Additionally, he sits on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and the boards of Roche and Delta Topco. He is also a member of the European Roundtable of Industrialists.
Mr. Brabeck-Letmathe is the recipient of several awards, including the prestigious La Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca. He also garnered the Austrian Cross of Honour and the Schumpeter Prize.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe holds a degree in economics from the University of World Trade in Vienna, Austria. He was born in 1944.