Schneider has headed health care giant Fresenius Group since 2003.
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The appointment of Schneider, whose background is in the medical industry, supports Nestle’s goal to redefine itself as a scientifically-driven nutrition and health company. While Nestle has maintained a 5% to 6% target for sales growth, the company missed that target for three consecutive years and in quarterly reports so far this year. Since 2011, the company has operated its Nestle Institute of Health Sciences, which researches and develops “nutritional solutions for the maintenance of health”.
Due to take the reigns on January 1, 2017, Schneider will be the first outside leader since banking expert Louis Dapples was appointed in 1922 following Nestle’s first loss in the aftermath of the first World War.
Bulcke has been under pressure to find new areas of growth as he enters the home stretch of a tenure that started in 2008. It has also been beset by recent product recalls. Fresenius made more than a dozen acquisitions under Schneider, and it’s the leading bidder to acquire Pfizer Inc.’s pumps and devices business, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.
“Schneider will trigger a new era at Nestle”, Bank Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy wrote.
With concerns about rising obesity on all continents, the company that has always been associated with fattening packaged foods wants to get in front of a global pivot towards nutrition.
In tapping Schneider for the post, Nestle bucked its near century-long track-record of picking in-house candidates as chief executives. Nestle last chose an outsider as CEO in 1922 and has since preferred to spend years grooming management for the top job. He said he expects more members of senior management may change.
Nestle also has been beset by product recalls, notably a setback to its Asian operations a year ago after pulling Maggi noodles from store shelves in India for five months after the popular snack was found to contain lead above permissible limits.
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