Nestle Phils president retires

The board of directors of Nestle Phils. Inc. (NPI) announced the retirement of Juan B. Santos as president and CEO effective March 31, 2003, after 38 years of service. Santos will continue to serve as chairman of Nestle Phils.

Salvador Pigem, now market head of Nestle Indonesia, will replace Santos. Pigem is familiar with the operations of Nestle Phils., having managed and grown the company’s ice cream and chilled business for nearly four years starting in the mid-’90s.

Santos has had a successful career with Nestle which included assignments in various overseas functions in Switzerland, Thailand and Singapore. He serves as CEO of the Nestle Group of Companies in Thailand from 1985 to 1987, after which he was appointed as president of Nestle Phils.

He was appointed as NPI chairman in 1998. From 1989 to 1995, he acted on concurrent capacity as CEO of Nestle Singapore Pte. Ltd. and NPI. Santos was due to retire from Nestle in August 1999 but his term was extended for another three years.

Under his leadership, NPI has grown to be the 10th largest corporation in the Philippines. It is now among the top companies in the Nestle Group, ranking No. 11 worldwide, No. 2 in the region comprising Asia, Oceania, and Africa, and No. 1 in ASEAN.

Nestle continues to expand its operations in the country, investing nearly P5 billion to upgrade its facilities. Three of Nestle factories in the Philippines now serve as ASEAN Supply Center, exporting Nestle products abroad: Cabuyao for infant nutrition, Cagayan de Oro for filled milk powder, and Lipa for breakfast cereals.