Paul Bulcke (born 8 September 1954) is a Belgian businessman. He was CEO of

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

from 2008 to 2016. He has been chairman of

since 2017.

Early life

He graduated as a commercial engineer at the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries. In addition to its main camp ...

and is an

alumnus Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

of the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. He also attended the program for executive development at the Swiss leading business school

International Institute for Management Development International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is an independent academic institute with campuses in Lausanne, Switzerland and Singapore. IMD is known for its executive education and its proximity to business. In 2024, it named David B ...

(IMD) in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Career

In 1979, aged 25, he started working for the Nestlé group and worked in different countries, including Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Portugal, Czech Republic and Germany. Before his appointment as CEO of Nestlé, he was the executive vice president of its Americas divisions. Bulcke has described Nestlé under his tenure as 'une force tranquille' (English: 'calm strength'). He is known for having a reserved, quiet personal manner. He was succeeded as CEO by Ulf Mark Schneider in January 2017.

Water sustainability

On 30 August 2012, Bulcke was quoted as saying:

"If something isn't given a value, people tend to waste it. Water is our most useful resource, but those using it often don’t even cover the costs of its infrastructure. Fresh water is being massively overused at nature's expense, but it seems only a global crisis will make us realise the importance of the issue. What is environmentally unsustainable today will become socially unsustainable in the future."

Awards and honours

On 25 May 2012, he received the VMA Award from the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School for his "lifelong career, which has been distinguished by sustained integrity, exceptional management capacity and inspiring leadership".

Personal life

He is married, has three children, and speaks six languages: Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and English. He likes to go sailing as a hobby.

References

Sources

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Belg Paul Bulcke wordt topman Nestlé
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Paul Bulcke

Paul Bulcke

World Water Week

External links

Paul Bulcke

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1954 births Living people People from Roeselare Belgian businesspeople Belgian chairpersons of corporations Belgian chief executives KU Leuven alumni Directors of Nestlé Ghent University alumni Chairmen of Nestlé Vlerick Business School alumni International Institute for Management Development alumni {{Belgium-business-bio-stub