Nestlé boss to take over top role in US (From York Press)

Nestlé boss Paul Grimwood to take over top role in United States

10:32am Saturday 4th August 2012 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

YORK-BORN Nestlé UK boss Paul Grimwood is heading to California to take over as chairman and chief executive of Nestlé USA.

Mr Grimwood, who was educated at Fulford School and previously ran the company’s confectionery operation, including the huge York factory, was hailed by the company today for his performance since becoming chairman and chief executive of Nestlé UK and Ireland in January 2009.

A spokesman said: “During this period, despite the difficult economic environment, Nestlé’s business in the UK & Ireland has delivered consistent growth in sales and profitability and has grown overall market share.

“Mr Grimwood has also led a major investment programme to create Nestlé’s next generation of world-class manufacturing operations in the UK.

“In January of this year, Nestlé announced a further £500 million investment in its UK factories over the next three years, and in October the company will move to a state of the art new head office at Gatwick.”

He said Nestlé USA, based in Glendale, California, which Mr Grimwood was due join in October, was one of the largest companies in the Nestlé group.

He said Mr Grimwood was a well-known figure in the industry. He was deputy president of the Food & Drink Federation and had led the UK food manufacturing sector’s “competitiveness agenda”.

Mr Grimwood will be succeeded at Nestlé UK & Ireland by Fiona Kendrick, who currently heads Nestlé’s global coffee business unit based in Switzerland.

She developed her early career with Nestlé in the UK, and headed Nestlé’s UK Food & Beverage Division, including the Nescafe business, for six years.

In 2005, when Mr Grimwood was appointed boss of Nestlé Rowntree, one of his former teachers at Fulford School, Frank Gutierrez, told how he remembered him as an extremely able student in one of the school’s brightest year groups.

“He was a very sociable and very nice lad,” he said. “He went on to do business in his A-levels and we thought he was destined for bigger and better things, as we have now seen.”