Nestlé appoints Jeff Hamilton as its CEO for Zone Americas region

USA – Nestle, a multinational confectionery manufacturer, has appointed Jeff Hamilton as CEO Zone America region (AMS) and member of the Group Executive Board, effective 1 July 2025.

Jeff Hamilton began his career at Purina in the USA as a sales representative in 1991. Over the years, he has held various leadership positions, experiencing an international career across three Zones.

Jeff Hamilton was previously President and CEO of Nestlé Canada, President of Nestlé’s Foods Division in the USA, and Vice President of Marketing at Nestlé Purina Asia, Oceania and Africa.

Since 2021, he has served as CEO of Purina PetCare Zone Europe, based at Purina’s European headquarters in Switzerland. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Jeff Hamilton will replace Steve Presley, Executive Vice President and CEO of Zone AMS, who will retire from the company after three decades of working there.

Laurent Freixe, CEO of Nestlé S.A., commented, “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 endeavours. 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.”

Nestlé appoints Martin Thompson as USA Market Head

Recently, the company appointed Martin Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and USA Market Head. With over 35 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry, Thompson brings extensive expertise in sales, marketing, and general management to the role, which the company may greatly need as it faces slowing sales growth.

Thompson joined Nestlé through the company’s acquisition of the Starbucks consumer packaged goods and foodservice products business in 2018.

He was appointed President of Nestlé Coffee Partners two years later, overseeing brands such as Nescafé, Starbucks at Home, and Seattle’s Best.

Under his leadership, the division has been a key growth driver for Nestlé USA, delivering consecutive years of profitable growth and market share gains.

Before joining Nestlé, Thompson served as CEO of Ghirardelli Chocolate and held several leadership roles at Clorox and Procter & Gamble.

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