Peter Brabeck-Letmathe led the Nestlé Group from 1997 to 2008, first as CEO, till 2005, and then as Chairman and CEO. In April 2008, he handed over the office of CEO and remained Chairman of the Board of Nestlé S.A.
Born in 1944 in Austria, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe graduated from the University of World Trade in Vienna with a degree in Economics. After joining the Nestlé Group in 1968, he spent a significant part of his career in Latin America, moving from sales manager and marketing director in Chile, to CEO of Nestlé Ecuador and later to Chairman/CEO of Nestlé Venezuela.
In 1987 he was transferred to Nestlé's international headquarters in Vevey as Senior Vice-President in charge of the Culinary Products Division, with a worldwide responsibility for that sector.
Appointed Executive Vice-President in 1992, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe assumed worldwide leadership of strategic business groups while simultaneously being in charge of Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs. In this role, he devised and implemented Nestlé's brand strategy, consisting of a clear hierarchy of strategic brands on the global, regional and local level.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe serves as Vice-Chairman of both L'Oréal and Credit Suisse Group. He is the Chairman of the Board of Nestlé Health Science S.A. and of Delta Topco Limited (Formula 1), as well as a member of the Exxon Mobil Corporation Board. Institutionally, he is active on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, and member of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT), where he is part of the Steering Committee and chairs the Foreign Economic Relations workgroup. He is Chairman of the "2030 Water Resources Group" a Public Private Partnership housed in the IFC/World Bank, Washington.
Furthermore, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has received several awards, including the Schumpeter Prize for outstanding contribution in disruptive Innovation, the Austrian Cross of Honour for services to the Republic of Austria and "La Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca". The University of Alberta (Canada) conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws on him and he serves as the Chairman of its External Advisory Board.