Nestlé Names New CEO for Zone Americas
There are some changes at the top at Nestlé. The global CPG announced that current EVP and CEO of the company’s Zone Americas business, Steve Presley, is retiring and will be succeeded by Jeff Hamilton.
Presley, who officially exits on April 30, has spent nearly three decades at Nestlé. He joined the company as the controller of a beverage factory in Suffolk, Va., and steadily ascended to roles of increasing responsibility, including chief transformation officer and CFO. He is credited with turning Nestlé USA – the company’s largest market in the world with about $30 billion in annual sales – into an engine for profitable growth during his tenure.
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To replace Presley, Nestlé’s board of directors tapped Jeff Hamilton as the new CEO for Zone Americas and member of the group executive board. He was promoted from his current position as business head of Purina PetCare Zone Europe.
Hamilton is also a company veteran. He came on board as a sales representative at Purina in 1991 and moved into leadership positions including president and CEO of Nestlé Canada, president of Nestlé’s Foods Division in the United States and VP of marketing at Nestlé Purina Asia, Oceania and Africa. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
"We are very grateful to Steve for his many years of dedicated service to our company and extend our best wishes to him for his future endeavors,” said Laurent Freixe, CEO Nestlé S.A. “We are excited to announce that Jeff will become the new CEO of Zone Americas. Jeff has consistently demonstrated exceptional performance and a remarkable ability to inspire and motivate his teams. We look forward to working with Jeff to drive our growth strategy in Zone AMS."
In December 2024, Nestlé USA promoted Martin Thompson to serve as CEO and U.S. market head. Thompson reported to Presley and will now report to Hamilton.
Earlier this month, parent company Nestlé S.A. held its 158th annual general meeting in Switzerland. At that event, Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe was elected to parent company's board of directors and the board’s chairman and all other members were re-elected for a term of office until the end of the next annual general meeting.
