Retail 2024: STEVE PRESLEY

Presley has been overseeing the U.S. market — Nestlé’s largest market, with around $30 billion in annual sales — since 2018. In 2021, he also became head of the Swiss food producer’s continent-wide business when Nestlé created a North America business zone, along with a China zone, to align with its market-led approach. In this role, Presley has overseen multiple acquisitions and divestitures, including selling the confections business and acquiring Starbucks Consumer Packaged Goods business and Essentia premium water.

In fiscal 2023, Nestlé’s North America group posted sales of $29.13 billion, with organic growth of 7.3%. In May, Presley announced Nestlé was launching a frozen food line targeting users of Ozempic and Wegovy, medications that help patients manage diabetes and lose weight.

In January, Presley received the William H. Albers Industry Relations Award from the Food Industry Association, awarded for trading partner relations and consumer and community service. In April, Nestlé joined Consumer Brands Association, with Presley taking a seat on the organization’s board of directors.

A graduate of the University of South Florida, Presley joined the company as a controller for a Nestlé beverage factory in Suffolk in 1997.