Nestle CFO Jim Singh to retire in March after 35 years with company; Walmart executive Wan Ling Martello will succeed Singh

Cindy Allen

VEVEY, Switzerland , September 27, 2011 (Nestle) – Jim Singh, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nestlé S.A., will retire on 31 March 2012 after a long and distinguished career of 35 years with Nestlé. The Board of Directors of Nestlé S.A. appointed Wan Ling Martello, currently Executive Vice President of Global e-Commerce, Emerging Markets Walmart, to succeed Jim Singh as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nestlé, effective 1 April 2012.

Ms. Martello, U.S. citizen of Chinese and Philippine origin, is a Certified Public Accountant with a MBA from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accountancy from the University of the Philippines. She has vast knowledge of the finance and control area and solid experience in the food and beverage business as well as the retail segment. She formerly worked with Kraft Foods (1985-1995) in finance and business administration as well as with Borden Foods Corporation (1995-1998) as Corporate Controller. From 1998-2005 she was with NCH Marketing Services Inc., a former subsidiary of Nielsen, as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and then President USA. From 2005-2011, Ms. Martello gained in-depth knowledge of the retail and e-commerce business at Walmart where she was Senior Vice President, Chief Finance Officer & Strategy, Walmart International and then Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Global eCommerce, Emerging Markets. Besides her financial background, Wan Ling also has extensive insight of the consumer and branded goods category and is perfectly prepared to assume this crucial role in our Group.

Paul Bulcke, CEO of Nestlé, said: "Jim Singh has strong human qualities and is a highly respected professional. Since I became CEO I have been able to appreciate the full extent to which Jim has been instrumental in steering Nestlé through these last challenging years. I am confident that Wan Ling will blend well into the Nestlé culture and that her strong experience in finance and the food and beverage business, both from the industry and retail angle, will allow her to further enhance the Nestlé model combining top-line growth with continuous margin improvement and an improved return on invested capital."

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