Coming Back to Portugal as CEO of Nestlé

On July 1st, I had the honor to become CEO of Nestlé Portugal – here are my first thoughts.

I had the pleasure to lead Nespresso Portugal between 2017 and 2020 and subsequently spent two years in Switzerland as CEO for Nespresso Europe. Yet as family – my husband, our children and I – we enjoyed our years in Lisbon very much and never really wanted to leave. So, all of us, are thrilled to come back – and me particularly to such a great role as to lead Nestlé Portugal.

This new assignment fills me with pride but also humbleness as my predecessors left a strong legacy and shaped a very successful company.?

The world is transforming and thus is transforming us.

Times have certainly changed since we left – when we moved, we were in the middle of the pandemic after several years of prosperity in Portugal. Now we come back to times of high macro-economic volatility, political turmoil in Europe & worldwide and ever-increasing climatic challenges.

As a mother of three young children, I am also personally more and more concerned in what world I will see them grow up in. I feel privileged that working in Nestlé Portugal allows me to participate on a bigger scale in contributing to solutions to reduce our carbon footprint – through our employees, our factories and operations and working with our suppliers, customers and also competitors when looking for industry-wide changes.?

These are new times. Times of change and times to find new routes as the future will not only be an extrapolation of the past. But it also means that there is an openness to change and an even greater need to work on finding solutions together.

Nestlé in Portugal: A century of Creating Shared Value

Nestlé Portugal is 99 years old, and I know that those who work here have seen turbulent times. And having been through those before, I feel there is a willingness and strong commitment to concentrate on the way forward rather than dwelling on the issues. Everyone here wants to be part of the solution.

Whilst we can rely on our strengths, expertise, professionalism, and passion to stay ahead, this is also a unique and motivating opportunity to reinvent ourselves and strengthen our differentiation points which make us unique. As Nestlé, we will leverage our rich history and all we know from the past. We will be open to an evolving future, whilst remaining true to the values we stand for.

Next year we will reach 100 years of Nestlé in Portugal, and this is a unique opportunity to recognize all that has been achieved by the teams – the current ones, the many before and the generations to come. Together, we are building the foundation for the next 100 years. I am convinced that Nestlé Portugal will continue to be a lighthouse, as employer of choice, as strong player in the Portuguese economy and as the company which brings a spark in the eyes of our consumers when they taste our great products.

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Whilst I am starting this new journey, I will certainly share the struggles we learn from, the new ideas we will generate, the successes we will celebrate and the news that show how we in Nestlé Portugal never stand still.?